OPINION: What does Marston’s sale mean for cask?

It leaves us asking what just happened, and why? And what will it mean for the future of cask?

Marston’s once saw itself as the saviour of cask ale, mopping up breweries like Ringwood, Wychwood and Jennings, and keeping them open alongside the Banks’s brewery in Wolverhampton and, of course, Marston’s in Burton-on-Trent.

As well as owning a nationwide network of breweries itself, it also brewed Thwaites, McEwans, Wells & Youngs, Tetley’s, Courage and Bass beers for companies that could no longer be bothered to brew them themselves.

As recently as January 2024, CMBC CEO Paul Davies said the company was “passionate” about cask ale and “incredibly proud to be a leading brewer” of it.

Following the establishment of the CMBC joint venture, they had a strange way of showing it. By the start of this year, CMBC had already closed Ringwood​, Wychwood​ and Jennings​. They declined to support industry initiatives such as 2023’s Drink Cask Fresh​​ campaign. Weeks after Davies’s pledge, CMBC axed the historic Burton Unions. In March, they launched “fresh ale,” a faux-cask format described by CAMRA as a “handpump hijack.”

‘Distraction’ from core business

Look on the CMBC website today and there isn’t a single image of cask ale – even brands such as Pedigree are shown in their bottled versions. When Marston’s made the announcement of the sale to Carlsberg last week, brewing was referred to as a “distraction” from its core business.

New Marston’s CEO Justin Platt – whose background is in attractions such as Legoland, Alton Towers and Peppa Pig World – said the sale allowed the company to “focus on what we do best – namely, giving our guests amazing pub experiences.” If anyone still believed brewing cask ale was what the country’s biggest cask ale brewer did best, it seems they were mistaken.

So given that Carlsberg already had a majority stake in the joint venture that has been steadily trashing Britain’s brewing tradition, why did they decide to buy the whole thing?

We may never know – a week after the announcement (by Marston’s) there’s still no real comment from Carlsberg. Usually, such purchases come with at least a cursory quote on a press release about how proud we are to invest in such a great brewing tradition or whatever, but there’s been nothing. 

That’s because the same day the sale of Marston’s brewing concerns was announced, Carlsberg also revealed that they had acquired soft drinks company Britvic. The figures involved tell us all we need to know: The remaining 40% stake in Marston’s cost the Danish giant £206 million. Chickenfeed compared to the £3.3 billion they spent on Britvic. The Marston’s acquisition is simply part of a tidying up exercise that perhaps creates efficiencies in areas like packaging. 

Carlsberg is interested in diversifying beyond beer, and building its “premium” brands such as Carlsberg and Brooklyn. The CMBC joint venture, and the beers it entails, didn’t merit a single mention in Carlsberg’s 2023 Annual Report​.

Barely a trace of Tetley’s

We shouldn’t be surprised. In 1992, when Carlsberg bought Allied Lyons, one of the former “big six” UK brewers, and renamed the company Carlsberg-Tetley, Tetley’s was the biggest cask ale brand in the country. Now, in its cask, keg and smoothflow versions, it barely troubles the top 20 ale brands. The brewery in Leeds was closed in 2011 and there’s now barely a trace of the brand in a city that was once defined by it.  

All this surely means we can expect more of the same. To be fair, Carlsberg has acquired far more brands than any one company could be expected to market and promote effectively. The best we can hope for is that some beloved beers will be sold off at favourable rates to people who actually care for them. (My personal prediction: within 12 months, Tetley’s to be acquired by Kirkstall Brewing’s Steve Holt.)

There’s nothing in this deal to bring any joy to cask ale lovers. It’s the final death rattle of a grand cask ale umbrella project that was well-intentioned, but didn’t work. It will prove to be yet another blow to Britain’s brewing heritage, which is in the process of being beaten to death by the companies that should be protecting it. 

But if we look beyond those companies, the picture is more positive. Brewers such as Timothy Taylor’s are posting strong growth. In places like Manchester, Norwich and Sheffield – which share an atypically high concentration of small, local breweries – people stare at you incredulously if you try to suggest cask ale is struggling. Young craft breweries may only dabble in cask occasionally, but when they do, they invariably sell it before it’s even hit the fermenters.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with cask ale as a drink. It just has to be managed correctly. When Carlsberg inevitably divest themselves of breweries and brands they don’t really want, let’s hope they leave room for breweries that actually care about cask to move into the empty space.

Pete Brown is an award-winning writer who has penned 12 books, focusing mainly on beer and the pub trade.​​