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Wolves keeps its independence
by John Cryne
CAMRA has welcomed the failure of the hostile bid for Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries. CAMRA has been campaigning to keep W&D independent since last year. Mike Benner, Head of Campaigns and Communications said, "This is great news for beer drinkers in the Midlands and for the real ale industry as a whole. We look forward to working with the W&D board to make sure competition, value and choice continue throughout the Midlands."
But CAMRA has also sent a stern warning to directors of W&D to take action to protect the company from further hostile bids and also to consider seriously any proposals to purchase Mansfield Brewery as a going concern. Mr. Benner added, "While we firmly believe that W&D is in the best hands, there needs to be an assurance that the Board of W&D will make every effort to sell Mansfield Brewery on as a viable going concern with its own estate of tied pubs."
CAMRA has called for the Government to investigate the whole beer and pubs industry leading to a strategy to maintain and promote competition and consumer choice. Mr. Benner said, "We may have won this battle, but the war against consolidation is not over. We need the Government to step in and take action to prevent further take-overs and mergers from eroding this important British industry."
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 12.
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