Quite often (and annoyingly) with London Drinker, a big story breaks as soon as we have an edition completed. This time it was the \u2018joint venture\u2019 between Carlsberg and Marston\u2019s. Looking back, I see that I have mentioned Marston\u2019s problems in every edition for over a year so this came as no surprise. According to the Morning Advertiser, negotiations started as long ago as November 2019 and were completed in February, before \u2018lockdown\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First up, a short history lesson. The company that is today called Marston\u2019s was originally Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, best known for Banks\u2019s beers which it brews at the Park Brewery in Wolverhampton. The Dudley part was Julia Hanson & Sons which closed in 1991. W&DB acquired Marston\u2019s of Burton on Trent in 1999 and decided to rename the whole company Marston\u2019s eight years later. Presumably they thought that Marston\u2019s name gave them more credibility. Marston\u2019s subsequently took over the following local breweries but to date has largely left them to operate independently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, Marston\u2019s purchased the Eagle Brewery in Bedford from Charles Wells. As part of the package they also acquired the following brands: Bombardier, Courage Best and Directors, McEwans and, of course, Young\u2019s. Marston\u2019s also own the former Thwaites brands, Lancaster Bomber and Wainwright, which are brewed at Wolverhampton.
There are two additional important historical considerations. At their brewery in Shobnall Road, Marston\u2019s have the last remaining Burton Union set which they use for brewing Pedigree for the local trade. This is a priceless piece of our brewing heritage and, whatever else happens, this must be preserved, and preferably kept in use. Similarly, Marston\u2019s have also been brewing Draught Bass at Shobnall Road under contract for AB InBev. We do not want to see that iconic beer lost either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlsberg, founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1847 by J C Jacobsen, is a multinational operation. They did not start brewing outside Denmark until 1966, their first overseas venture being in Cyprus. Their flagship brands are Carlsberg, San Miguel and Kronenbourg but there is no room here for the full list of what they brew and where. Their activities in the UK are centred on their lager brewery in Northampton. They also own the Tetley\u2019s brand (they have a call centre in Leeds) and, in 2017, they ventured into the craft beer market by acquiring the London Fields Brewery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are existing links between the two companies. Marston\u2019s brew Tetley\u2019s Mild, Bitter and Gold at Wolverhampton under licence for Carlsberg, although the independent Leeds Brewery contract brews Tetley No. 3 Pale Ale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The joint venture will be called the Carlsberg Marston\u2019s Brewing Company (CMBC) and will be owned 60% by Carlsberg and 40% by Marston\u2019s. Carlsberg will have three seats on the board and Marston\u2019s two, with current Marston\u2019s Chief Executive, Ralph Findlay becoming non-executive chairman. Carlsberg are reportedly injecting capital of \u00a3300 million in to the project. The chief executive of CMBC will be the current CEO of Carlsberg UK, Tomasz Blawat, who explained that the attraction for Carlsberg was access to Marston\u2019s pub estate (the agreement includes a supply deal) while Marston\u2019s would be free to concentrate on their pub estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Findlay confirmed that Marston\u2019s, who had debts of \u00a31.39 billion at the end of September 2019, will become a \u2018focused pub operator\u2019. Marston\u2019s had planned to reduce the debt by continuing their programme of pub sales but the funds generated by the creation of CMBC will ease the pressure somewhat and Mr Findlay added that he didn\u2019t have \u2018any plans for material disposals at this point\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The obvious question is what interest will a global drinks operation have in the smaller parts of Marston\u2019s portfolio. CAMRA\u2019s chief executive, Tom Stainer, commented, \u201cIf this joint venture goes ahead, we would see further consolidation of the brewing industry into just a few large, international players \u2013 to the detriment of our national brewing heritage, consumer choice, the diversity of beer in pubs across the country and the access to market for the small, independent brewing industry. CAMRA wants to see Carlsberg and Marston\u2019s protect jobs and protect pubs, as well as to resist any brewery closures or moves that would see existing beers losing their identity, or regional character, as part of a merger<\/em>.\u201d Mr Blawat told the Morning Advertiser that \u2018One of the greatest strengths of the Marston\u2019s business is its portfolio of regional brands that are brewed locally. It will remain important to the joint venture that we continue to have a local brewery for consumers of these brands. Ultimately, Carlsberg Marston\u2019s Brewing Company will have complementary international, national and regional beers and brands to offer to pubs and beer drinkers<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Happily, the local press reported that brewing started again at Jennings on 10 July. Either way, the control of large part of the UK brewing industry has left national ownership, as also happened with Fuller\u2019s and Greene King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deal is expected to be completed in September but requires the approval of Marston\u2019s shareholders first. Happily, although there is the usual mention of \u2018synergies\u2019, no job losses are mentioned \u2013 so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with the Evening Standard on 26 June, Mr Findlay said that he expected 85% of Marston\u2019s 1,400 pubs to reopen on 4 July but while there would be enhanced hygiene and \u2018social distancing\u2019, there would be no plastic screens or personal protection equipment (PPE). In an interview with the Daily Mail the next day, he maintained that issues such as PPE and contact details were \u2018requests\u2019 from the Government and not rules and that there was a \u2018degree of grey area and flexibility of guidance that is very helpful\u2019, allowing licensees discretion over implementation. As regards PPE, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s important to me for pubs to look like pubs and not like hospitals because if they do, people won\u2019t want to come here.\u201d PPE would however be provided for those staff who wanted it for \u2018their own peace of mind\u2019. On contact details, he said that the company would not force drinkers to hand over their details. Instead they would leave pens and paper for customers to fill out their details if they wanted to, meaning that it was \u2018voluntary information\u2019. Some customer details would still appear on their on-line booking system however, which would be made available for \u2018Test and Trace\u2019 purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stop press<\/strong>: having originally written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on 25 June to express its concerns, CAMRA\u2019s Chief Executive, Tom Stainer, wrote again on 13 July. He commented, \u201cSince the day that it was announced, CAMRA has raised serious concerns about the proposed Carlsberg Marston\u2019s Brewing Company and choice for beer drinkers, pub goers \u2013 and over the future of British beers, brands and breweries. We wrote to the CMA back in June and asked them to investigate. We were surprised to be told that it wasn\u2019t a matter for them, and that we should talk to the EU Commission instead. We don\u2019t understand why the CMA does not seem interested in investigating something that will clearly have an impact on choice of beer on the bar in pubs. The CMA exists to promote competition for the benefit of consumers; therefore it is disappointing that they are seemingly disinterested in investigating something that will have potentially anti-competitive effects on the UK beer and pub market. It is vital that the CMA steps up to the plate, thoroughly investigates the proposed joint venture between Marston\u2019s and Carlsberg, and helps to ensure there is fair competition, access to market for brewers, and decent consumer choice when it comes to beer and pubs up and down the country<\/em>.\u201d There is some interesting news about the CMA here<\/a><\/span>. Quite often (and annoyingly) with London Drinker, a big story breaks as soon as we have an edition completed. This time it was the \u2018joint venture\u2019 between Carlsberg and Marston\u2019s.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brewery-news","category-camra-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1201,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions\/1201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Tony Hedger<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"