CMBC closes London Fields Brewery with view to sell

08-Dec-2021 - Last updated on 08-Dec-2021 at 16:06 GMT

Previous history: Carlsberg bought London Fields Brewery in 2017

Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) has closed London Fields Brewery (LFB), shutting the taproom and stopping brewing immediately, and is looking to sell the site and brand.

The Hackney-based brewery was sold to Carlsberg for a reported £4m in July 2017 and was relaunched in February 2018.

It was revamped again in 2019 to the tune of £2.1m, which included a new Kaspar Schulz brewkit, valued at about £1.5m. It was founded in 2011 and was previously put up for sale in 2016 for £1m.

Consultation period

CMBC CEO Paul Davies said: “We’ve taken the difficult decision to propose the closure of London Fields Brewery (LFB) with a view to selling the site and brand.

“The team have been informed of this decision and we will now enter into a period of consultation with them while we also explore the market’s interest in the brewery. Our primary aim now is supporting the team through what will be a difficult time for them.

“As it may take some months to find the right buyer for the brewery, we will close the taproom and stop brewing on site immediately. Our brewing partner Cameron’s will continue to brew LFB in the usual manner to meet existing on-trade customer supply until we finalise a sale.”

Difficult choices

Davies went on to say the decision didn’t reflect upon the hard work and dedication that has been put into building the venue since it was bought four years ago.

He added: “But after several months of careful review, it is clear that growing LFB will require significant time, resource, and marketing investment.

“We understand this news will be devastating to the team and disappointing to many others. But we cannot shy away from making the difficult choices that we believe are crucial to investing in scaling the right brands for the future and making CMBC a stronger industry leading business.

“This does not mean that LFB cannot have a bright future as a craft brewer outside of CMBC given the brand’s London provenance and well invested brewery will be attractive to other industry players.”