Squawk Brewing Co announces closure

25-Jan-2024 - Last updated on 25-Jan-2024 at 09:06 GMT

Calling time: It's the end of the road for Manchester-based Squawk Brewing Co (credit: Getty/ilbusca)

Squawk Brewing Co, founded in Manchester in 2013, will close its doors for good, with a final beer coming out in March.

Its portfolio includes New England IPA, Loxia, porter, Skua and German-style pils, Potoo, as well as a gluten free pale ale, Mallard.

The brewery took to social media to make the announcement. A spokesperson said: “The end is nigh! We’re hanging up our boots and laying to rest our mash shovel.

“To cut a long story short our landlord needs to chuck us out for a few weeks for maintenance.

“Pretty important since it’s to make sure the Trans Pennine Express isn’t going to fall on our heads as it whistles past every day, exactly on time.

“Unfortunately, this means us ripping out the brewery and not making beer for a few months, which is not feasible funnily enough."

Calling it a day

He added: “We’ve had a good ten year run, some amazing times, met some of the daftest people we could hope to... but now it’s time to call it a day.”

Its taproom, Pelican, will continue to trade as usual.

Squawk is the latest in a long line of breweries and pubs shutting their doors.

Earlier this week, Seven Bro7hers Brewing Co announced it would temporarily close its Liverpool Beerhouse site, citing inflation and a lack of government support.

Seven Bro7hers chief executive Keith McAvoy said: “In this current economic climate we have to consider our business as a whole and review the success and affordability of all of our sites – we have now taken the unfortunate decision to temporarily close our Liverpool Beerhouse.

“With rising costs, inflation, and the lack of government support for the hospitality sector, for the time being remaining open isn’t sustainable.”

Brewery closures

West Sussex cask beer producer Dark Star brewery also announced it would close its Partridge Green brewery at the end of 2022.

Asahi, who owned the brewery, said: “We have put forward a proposal for Dark Star to cease trading at its current site, in Partridge Green, West Sussex, as of 31 December 2022 and for operations for the brand to move to the Meantime brewery in Greenwich.”

It continued: “This is not a step we have taken lightly, however, there are significant challenges in the current economic and operating environment that make this the right course of action for the business and the brand.

“The Dark Star site operates significantly below capacity, which is unfortunately not sustainable.”