Burton closure planned soon after the shutting of Sharp’s brewery in Cornwall
Carlsberg’s decision to close its historic Burton brewery in 2027 has raised urgent questions about what will become of its remaining cask ale brands, including Hobgoblin which originated at Wychwood in Witney, Oxfordshire.
The lager giant merged its UK operations with Marston’s in 2020 but then total control in 2024, meaning that Marston’s is now only a pub operating company. Various formerly independent breweries that had been swallowed up by Marston’s have closed over the years, including Wychwood, Jennings in Cumbria and Ringwood in Hampshire. The former Banks’s brewery in Wolverhampton was also closed, and the former Charles Wells brewery in Bedford sold to Spanish giant Damm, leaving the Burton brewery as the only site producing cask ales.
Some of these have already been discontinued, but those currently brewed at Burton include Marston’s Pedigree, Hobgoblin, Wainwright Gold and Banks’s Bitter, Bass (under contract) plus Young’s brands produced for that pub chain.
Carlsberg’s lack of interest in cask ale means beers produced in Burton are unlikely to move to other sites including its giant lager factory in Northampton, but it is actively looking for other brewers who could take them on. There is already a precedent for this as the Brakspear brands that moved to Wychwood and later Wolverhampton are now brewed by Hogs Back in Surrey, which has installed new, but traditional “double drop” equipment.
CAMRA chairman Ash Corbett-Collins said: “This announcement is an absolute disgrace, and the latest in a string of actions that show how little they care about our brewing heritage or the nation’s drinkers. However, we do agree with Carlsberg on one thing. The time is right to think about alternative, independent brewers who are willing to become custodians of Carlsberg’s cask brands and will finally do the beers the justice they deserve.
“Like the rescue of Jennings in Cumbria by passionate and experienced brewers, I hope the Burton brewery can be saved.”
The closure announcement came soon after another global giant, Molson Coors, confirmed it would close Sharp’s brewery at Rock, Cornwall, where Doom Bar was first made – until recently the top selling cask ale, but now trailing Timothy Taylor Landlord. Molson Coors is moving production of Doom Bar over 400 miles away to Hartlepool, and CAMRA will be lobbying hard to stop Doom Bar being marketed as “Cornish” in future.
Dave Pedlar, Cornwall CAMRA chairman, said: “This is a betrayal of the founders of Sharp’s, the 40 people whose jobs are at risk, and the locals that have supported this business for decades. We’ve known for a while that Sharp’s cask production was moving out of the Duchy, but Hartlepool is 417 miles away, which is as far from Rock as Brussels. We need ‘pasty-style’ consumer protection laws that stop Molson Coors from continuing to market these beers as Cornish.”
Since Molson Coors announced its intentionsto close Sharp’s in February 2026, CAMRA has launched a new, UK-wide campaign and the ‘Beer in the UK’ report to raise awareness of the tactics of global brewers in the UK beer market. The campaign highlights misleading marketing practices, and how independent brewers struggle to get their beers onto bars.
Tom Stainer, CAMRA Chief Executive, said: “It’s entirely ridiculous that a beer named after a sandbank in the Camel Estuary, and marketed as a ‘Cornish original’, is now going to be made in Hartlepool. Once again, global brewers are closing breweries, trashing our reputation as a great brewing nation, and misleading ordinary drinkers.
“This is why we’ve launched our new campaign to expose ‘Big Beer’ in the UK, their misleading marketing tactics, and demand that the Competition and Markets Authority investigate how global corporations dominate the beer market. We need decisive action to deliver a fairer beer market for independent brewers and ordinary drinkers.”