Marston's Brewery Has Run in Burton Since 1834. Carlsberg Britvic Wants to Close It by Summer 2027.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
In short. Carlsberg Britvic told staff and the Unite and GMB unions on 8 October 2026 that it wants to close Marston's Brewery and its main logistics operation in Burton upon Trent, putting around 310 roles at risk [1]. The brewery and the depot are expected to keep running through a consultation period, with closure planned for summer 2027. The ledger logs a loss of 310, graded ANNOUNCED, status proposed, sector food and drink, region West Midlands, ai_cited: not-raised.
What was announced
The proposal would end production at the Shobnall Road site Marston's has occupied since 1898 and shut the primary logistics depot alongside it [1]. Carlsberg Britvic chief executive Paul Davies gave the company's reasoning in blunt terms: "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" [2]. The company says it is "actively seeking new homes for other cask and regional ale brands" produced at the site, and that priority brands including Hobgoblin, McEwan's and Brooklyn will stay in its own portfolio regardless of the brewery's fate [1] [3]. Historic names brewed on the site, including Bass and Marston's own Pedigree, are among those whose future now depends on finding a buyer.
Around 310 people work at the Burton site, and the company has given no breakdown yet of how many of those roles sit in brewing itself against the logistics operation [4]. Nothing has been decided: the plan is "subject to consultation," both operations are expected to continue trading while that runs, and no date has been given for when the consultation itself will conclude.
A site older than the company that now owns it
Brewing at Burton under the Marston's name goes back to 1834, when John Marston founded the business at the Horninglow Brewery. The move to the current Shobnall Road site came in 1898, when Marston's merged with John Thompson & Son and built what it called the Albion Brewery, the building still standing today [5]. Marston's itself stopped being an independent brewer in 2020, when it folded its brewing arm into a joint venture with Carlsberg UK; it sold its remaining stake in that venture in 2024, leaving the Burton site entirely under Carlsberg's ownership before this year's merger with Britvic created Carlsberg Britvic [1]. Almost two centuries of continuous brewing on one site would end with a decision taken by owners who have held it for six years.
Ash Corbett-Collins, national chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale, was not willing to let the corporate framing stand unanswered: "I was born and raised in Burton and I'm proud of our place at the centre of British brewing. 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" [2].
Why cask ale, specifically
Carlsberg Britvic's own figure, that UK cask ale volumes have more than halved in under ten years, is the entire stated case for closing a site that still brews lager and other beer styles profitably elsewhere in its portfolio. Nothing in the announcement suggests the Burton brewery itself is loss-making as a building or a workforce; the claim is about the shrinking market for the specific style it was built to produce. That distinction matters for anyone reading the 310 figure as a verdict on Burton: the company is not saying the town or the site failed, it is saying cask ale did.
How the ledger logs it
A loss of 310, graded ANNOUNCED because every figure here comes from a company statement and union notification, not a filing or a concluded consultation. Status is proposed: nobody has left, and the company itself frames this as a proposal subject to consultation. Unit is people, since that is the figure the company and press coverage both use. AI is not raised anywhere in this announcement or the coverage checked, so the row carries ai_cited: not-raised. Region is West Midlands, where Burton upon Trent sits.
What happens next in this ledger
Three things would move this row: a concluded consultation with a final headcount, confirmation of whether any of the cask and regional brands find a buyer willing to keep brewing on site, and any Gazette or filing evidence if the closure proceeds as planned. Until then, 310 stays in this ledger's losses-proposed column, not its confirmed one, and the site that has brewed in Burton since the 19th century keeps operating while the argument about its 20th-century buildings and 21st-century market plays out.
Sources
- The Grocer, "Carlsberg Britvic announces plan to close Marston's Brewery," 8 October 2026. https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/carlsberg-britvic-announces-plan-to-close-marstons-brewery/724601.article
- BM Magazine, "Carlsberg Britvic Burton Brewery Closure: Key Details," 9 October 2026. https://bmmagazine.co.uk/news/carlsberg-burton-brewery-closure-jobs/
- FoodBev Media, "Carlsberg reveals plans to close Marston's Brewery, risking 310 jobs," 9 October 2026. https://www.foodbev.com/news/carlsberg-reveals-plans-to-close-marston-s-brewery-risking-310-jobs
- Personnel Today, "Carlsberg Britvic plans to close Marston's Brewery," 9 October 2026. https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/carlsberg-britvic-plans-to-close-marstons-brewery/
- Wikipedia, "Marston's plc." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marston%27s_plc