Carlsberg Britvic has proposed closing Marston’s Brewery in Burton upon Trent in summer 2027, putting about 310 jobs at risk at a site that has been operating for almost 200 years.
The British arm of the Danish brewer said its plans to shut the brewery and the logistics operation at the site were a response to the “stark reality” facing the cask ale trade.
The company said it would continue to produce certain ale brands, such as Hobgoblin, McEwan’s and Brooklyn, but would look at selling some of its other cask and regional ale brands.
Paul Davies, chief executive of Carlsberg Britvic, said the decision was made to ensure the company’s portfolio caters to today’s customer demand.
“The stark reality is that UK cask ale volumes have more than halved in less than a decade and this trend looks set to continue across the UK,” he said.
“That said, smaller ale brands are much-loved by select consumers and we will do everything we can to ensure they thrive under more specialist or local ownership in the future.”
Davies said the brewery and its main logistics operation are expected to operate during a transition period while the company works through the consultation.
Ash Corbett-Collins, national chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), described the decision as an “absolute disgrace”.
“I was born and raised in Burton and I’m proud of our place at the centre of British brewing,” he said. “Unfortunately, statements from Carlsberg about understanding the importance of the brewery to the town come far too little too late for most people, Camra included.”
The volume of cask ale sold in Britain’s pubs fell by 7.1 per cent in 2025, following an 11.2 per cent drop the previous year, according to data from the research firm NielsenIQ.
The proposal follows the closure last year of the 150-year-old Banks’s Brewery in Wolverhampton, which was also owned by the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company.
Carlsberg and Marston’s agreed a deal in 2020 to establish the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company, which included Marston’s breweries and distribution sites but not Marston’s pubs. Carlsberg bought out Marston’s remaining stake in the joint venture four years later.
In May, Greene King agreed to sell Old Speckled Hen to Damm UK, with its chief executive, Nick Mackenzie, pointing to structural challenges facing cask ale.
The number of UK breweries passed 2,000 about ten years ago, for the first time since the 1930s, as small-scale brewers entered the market during the growth of craft beer.
That figure has since fallen. There were 1,550 breweries in the UK at 30 June, down from 1,634 a year earlier, according to the UK Brewery Tracker compiled by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (Siba).
Siba said 2025 brought record closures across the UK as breweries struggled with rising costs and lingering Covid debt. Its tracker recorded a net loss of 16 breweries in the first six months of 2026, compared with a net loss of 137 across the whole of 2025.
Andy Slee, chief executive of Siba, said in August that the figures were “a sign that brewery closure numbers may be beginning to stabilise following a number of particularly tough years”, adding: “For most breweries the struggles are not behind them.”
Figures compiled by the accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young showed that 43 breweries went insolvent in the year to February 2025.
Carlsberg Britvic has not named the cask and regional ale brands it will look to sell, or any potential buyers.
