Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company is to close London Fields Brewery with an eye to selling the craft brand just four years after buying it.
CMBC CEO Paul Davies said the brewer had “taken the difficult decision” and would enter into a consultation period with London Fields’ staff “whilst we also explore the market’s interest in the brewery”.
However “as it may take some months to find the right buyer for the brewery”, the brand’s taproom, in London’s Hackney, would close immediately, he said. The decision “in no way reflects upon the hard work and dedication that has been put into building LFB since we purchased the brewery in 2017” he added.
“But after several months of careful review, it is clear that growing LFB will require significant time, resource, and marketing investment.”
It comes as the brand’s beers have all seen their value sales decline significantly over the past year: its leading beer, Hackney Hopster, dropped 31.7% to just £27,601 in the mults over the 52 weeks to 11 September 2021 [NielsenIQ].
Its 3 Weiss Monkeys and Broadway Boss brews, meanwhile, saw their sales plunge 95.6% and 50.9% respectively.
Davies added: “We understand this news will be devastating to the team and disappointing to many others. But we cannot shy away from making the difficult choices that we believe are crucial to investing in scaling the right brands for the future and making CMBC a stronger industry-leading business.
“This does not mean that LFB cannot have a bright future as a craft brewer outside of CMBC given the brand’s London provenance and well-invested brewery will be attractive to other industry players.”
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