Belhaven Blues

I see that Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar is to be "fully integrated" within Greene King. While the brewery will be kept open , it means the end of the company, founded in 1719, as a separate operating identity. The 300 odd tied pubs will be subsumed into the current Greene King estate. The integration will save a (measly) £1 million a year.

This is in marked contrast to the way that Marstons manages its owned breweries such as Jennings and Ringwood and the cynic in me would predict that this is merely a prelude to the inevitable closure of Dunbar, which rather than an operating division of Greene King, becomes just another (the other in fact) brewery in the company and thus rather vulnerable. If you want to predict the future, look at the past and you will see that Greene King has a record of closing every brewery it takes over. Think Morlands, Ridley etc. Don't suppose that recent investment at Dunbar will make a jot of difference. It won't in the long term.

This is another nail in the coffin of major brewing in Scotland and a good reason, as if you needed any more, to regard Greene King as a merciless devourer of breweries.