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Save British Beer and Drinkers' Choice
Many of Britain's regional brewers face take-over and closure unless the government intervenes to support them. Eight out of 10 pints of beer brewed in Britain today come from three global giants - Interbrew, which includes Bass, Whitbread and Stella Artois, Scottish Courage, who also own Kronenbourg, and Carlsberg-Tetley.
In the past 10 years over 40 breweries have closed, including such famous names in regional brewing as King & Barnes, Mitchells, Morland, Morrells, Ruddles, Vaux and Ward. In August, the country's biggest regional brewer, Wolverhampton & Dudley, owner of Banks's and Marston's, escaped takeover by the Pubmaster group by a whisker. Pubmaster, one of Britain's biggest pub companies, has made it clear it may well bid for W&D again. If successful they would sell off the breweries, which would almost certainly mean the closure of Bank's and Marston's. Marston's, in particular, is a site of enormous historic importance, with its unique 'Burton Union room' method of fermentation.
CAMRA says the government must have an action plan to save independent brewing in Britain. Without such a plan, more and more breweries that own estates of pubs will become vulnerable to predator pub groups whose only interest lies in owning pubs and stocking them with heavily-discounted national beer brands.
Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt has called a 'manufacturing summit' of industries hit by the world recession. But nothing is done to help British independent brewers. Mrs Hewitt's plans for Interbrew, announced last month, are a dog's breakfast. She has told the Belgian group it must either sell off Bass Brewers entirely or dispose of major brands and breweries to a new company called Carling Brewing. This would lead to the ludicrous situation in which Draught Bass, the leading premium cask ale, would be owned by Interbrew but brewed under licence in the old Bass Brewery in Burton-on-Trent by a lager brewer!
As only another global giant, such as Heineken or South African Breweries, could afford the millions of pounds needed to buy the Carling business, nothing will have been done to weaken the power of the global giants and their stranglehold on drinkers' choice.
The regional and family brewers' share of the beer market has fallen from 22% to 15% in a decade and continues to fall. The independents represent the best hope for saving and maintaining our cask ales. CAMRA asks, "Are their beers to be just props in photo calls for the Prime Minister at election time or are they to be saved for future generations to enjoy?"
CAMRA calls upon the government to do the following:
Stop all further takeovers that are against the public interest. Give advice and financial help to management who want to save threatened breweries by organising buy-outs. Investigate the scandal of back-door discounts between giant brewers and pub companies that excludes small brewers from thousands of pubs. Encourage the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to protect historic breweries by listing buildings and contents to deter predatory takeovers by pub groups interested only in brewery retail estate. For example, only small parts of Marston's brewery are listed: the entire site, including the 'Union Rooms', should be listed as a matter of urgency. A government strategy for the independent brewery section.
If the great wine-making chateaux of France were threatened by take-overs and closure, the French government would take action to stop such threats but the British government seems happy to see our independent breweries and their great cask ales disappear or fall into the hands of overseas lager brewers.
From a CAMRA release
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 13.
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