Company type | Limited company |
---|---|
Carlsberg Marston's | |
Industry | Brewery |
Predecessor | Carlsberg UK • Brewery business of Marston's plc |
Founded | 2020 |
Headquarters | Wolverhampton, England, UK |
Owner | Carlsberg Group |
Website | www |
Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company (CMBC) is the British subsidiary of Carlsberg Group, operating multiple breweries. It was founded by a merger of Carlsberg's existing UK operations and Marston's plc brewing operations, the latter of which had a 40% share in the business from the entity's founding in 2020 until July 2024.
In May 2020, it was announced that subject to competition law and shareholder approval, Marston's plc would merge its brewing business with Carlsberg UK (the United Kingdom arm of Carlsberg Group), into a joint venture valued at £780m. Marston's will take a 40% stake in the joint venture and receive up to £273m in cash. The deal will involve Marston's six breweries and distribution depots, but not its 1,400 pubs. [1] [2] The merger was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority on 9 October 2020. The new brewing company will be headquartered in Wolverhampton and be known as Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. It was also announced that the transaction was expected to be completed by the end of October 2020. [3]
It was announced on 8 July 2024, that Marston's had decided to sell their 40% share in CMBC to Carlsberg, in a bid to concentrate on the running of the pub business, in a deal valued at £206m. Carlsberg is also buying the soft drinks company Britvic and will combine it with that of CMBC. This does however leave the future of brewing in Wolverhampton in question and also the location of the head office. A review of the business will take place once the sale is completed and the company will notify stakeholders and employees of the future of the business when appropriate. [4]
The company owns and operates six breweries (as of July 2020): [5]
The brewery was one of the last major brewers to use Burton Union Sets, a system whereby fermentation barrels and troughs were linked together by pipework. [6]
The main beers are Mansfield, Wainwright, Marston's Pedigree and EPA, McEwans Export, McEwan's Special, Bombardier, Wychwood Hobgoblin, Jennings Cumberland Ale, and Banks's Bitter and Mild. Despite a general UK-wide decline in the popularity of mild ales, Banks's Mild still outsells its stablemate bitter in the West Midlands market and is the best-selling mild ale in the world. [7] The company also owns Sunbeam, a blonde beer which is brewed and distributed from the Banks's brewery based in Wolverhampton. Sunbeam was first produced in 2011, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Wolverhampton achieving city status. [8]
Half of all its beer is bottled. [9] Marston's brews Draught Bass for AB InBev and Tetley Bitter, Mild and Dark Mild for Carlsberg. [10] Marston's Pedigree is a 4.3% ABV bitter. [11] Introduced in 1952, it is Marston's flagship brand, selling 150,000 hectolitres in 2010. [11] It is the only beer to use the oak Burton Union System so that it is fermented in wood; the ingredients are mineral enriched Burton Water, malted barley, and Fuggles and Goldings hops. [11]
Wainwright is one of the company's best-selling beers and is brewed at the Banks's Brewery in Wolverhampton. It is a 4.1% ABV golden ale named in honour of the famous fell walker and author Alfred Wainwright. Marston's acquired the brand from Thwaites in 2015. In 2016, the Thwaites branding was dropped and the beer was rebranded "The golden beer". [12]
The acquisition of Charles Wells's Eagle Brewery in Bedford increased Marston's share of the British ale market. It also widened its geographical reach giving it southern English brands Bombardier, Waggledance, Courage, the global Young's licence and Scottish brands McEwan's and William Younger. [13]
From 2007 to 2017, Marston's had a sponsorshop agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board, whereby Marston's Pedigree was the official beer of the England Cricket team. Marston's was the official supplier of beer at all home test matches and had exclusive beer advertising rights. [14]
Ringwood Brewery is a brand of beer owned by Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company, and was formerly a small brewery on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, England, near the Dorset border. It produced mainly cask ales and some bottled beers.
Carlsberg A/S is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. The company's flagship brand is Carlsberg. The company employs around 41,000 people, primarily in Europe and Asia. Carlsberg is currently the 6th largest brewery in the world based on revenue.
Bass Brewery was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels. Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's red triangle became the UK's first registered trade mark.
Wychwood Brewery was a brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire, England, owned by Marston's. Hobgoblin, a 5.2% abv brown ale, was the company's flagship brand.
McEwan's is a brand of beer owned by Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company. It was originally brewed by William McEwan's Fountain Brewery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The McEwan's brand passed to Heineken in 2008 after their purchase of Scottish & Newcastle's British operations. Heineken sold the brand to Wells & Young's in 2011, who sold their brewing operation, including the McEwan brand to Marston's in 2017. Cans and bottles are now brewed in Bedford, England.
Thwaites Brewery is a regional brewery founded in 1807 by Daniel Thwaites in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, now located near Mellor in the Ribble Valley. Part of the company was sold to Marston's in 2015, and the original brewery was demolished in 2019. Thwaites still produces beer on a smaller scale.
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, commonly known as Farsons, is a Maltese food and beverage conglomerate whose businesses include the brewing, sale and distribution of beer and soft drinks; importation, wholesale and retail of food and beverages; operation of franchised food retailers; and property development.
Young's is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs.
Holden's Brewery is a family-run English regional brewery. It was founded in 1915 at the Park Inn in Woodsetton, Dudley, in the West Midlands.
Moorhouse's is an independent brewery founded in 1865, by William Moorhouse in Burnley Lancashire, England, as a producer of mineral waters and low-alcohol beers known as hop bitters. It first produced cask ales in 1978.
Jennings Brewery was established as a family concern in 1828 in the village of Lorton, between Buttermere and Cockermouth in the Lake District, England. The brewery was started by John Jennings Snr, son of William Jennings. Jennings brewed exclusively in Lorton until 1874 when its present home, the Castle Brewery in Cockermouth, was purchased. The Lorton brewery closed some five years later.
Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington & Co. and Worthington's, is a British brewer founded by William Worthington in Burton upon Trent in 1761. It is the third oldest continuously brewed British beer brand, after Shepherde Neame and Whitbread. The best known Worthington beers are its Creamflow nitrokeg bitter and White Shield India Pale Ale.
Stones Brewery was a brewery founded in 1868 by William Stones in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and purchased by Bass Brewery in 1968. After its closure in 1999, its major brand, Stones Bitter, has continued to be produced by the Molson Coors Brewing Company.
Benskins was the pre-eminent brewery in Watford, and Hertfordshire's biggest brewer until its acquisition by Ind Coope in 1957.
Tetley's Brewery(Joshua Tetley & Son Ltd) was an English regional brewery founded in 1822 by Joshua Tetley in Hunslet, now a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The beer was originally produced at the Leeds Brewery, which was later renamed the Leeds Tetley Brewery to avoid confusion with a microbrewery of the same name.
Border Breweries (Wrexham) Ltd was a brewery in Wrexham, Wales, between 1874 and 1984.
Wells & Young's Brewery was formed in 2006 from a merger of the brewing operations of Charles Wells Ltd and Young's Brewery. Charles Wells initially had a 60% stake and Young's 40%. In 2011, Charles Wells took full control when it bought Young's 40% stake. Wells & Young's is now responsible for brewing, distributing and marketing Charles Wells' and Young & Co's brands at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford.
Beer is produced through steeping a sugar source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt. Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found in Sumerian writings, some of the oldest known writing of any sort. Brewing is done in a brewery by a brewer, and the brewing industry is part of most western economies. In 19th century Britain, technological discoveries and improvements such as Burtonisation and the Burton Union system significantly changed beer brewing.
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded as a brewery by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange.