Food & Drink
Anthony Swift has spoken out against the closure of Ringwood Brewery
Published: December 11, 2023 | Updated: 11th December 2023
A former City corporate finance advisor who was leading a consortium of private investors hoping to save Ringwood Brewery has described its planned closure as a tragedy.
Owners Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) is to shut the Ringwood site from January 2024 with the loss of ten jobs.
Ringwood brands still produced on site will be relocated to other breweries in the CMBC network.
Anthony Swift, who lives near Fordingbridge, said: “This catastrophic announcement speaks volumes about the state of corporate Britain in the 2020s.
“Just ten years ago, Ringwood Brewery was operating at capacity, producing about 42,000 barrels of beer a year. Since then, it has lost 75 per cent of its production and its soul.
“There has been no support for the brands, local sponsorships of great events like the New Forest Show, the Ellingham Show and the Great Dorset Steam Fair have been cancelled, employment on the site has plummeted as operations have been corporately centralised and production of the bottled beers has been relocated to Burton-on-Trent.
“My consortium had plans to revive Ringwood Brewery as an independent brewer of local craft ales, an active sponsor of local events, a brewer of seasonal ales, and to bring back to Ringwood the draymen, the marketing team, the sales reps, the finance and HR teams.
“We would have restored employment from the current 14 on site to probably 30 or 40 people.
“This decision is a tragedy for the pub customers of Ringwood Brewery and the consumers of the craft ales but, above all, for the town of Ringwood, which looks set to lose a stack of jobs, a great visitor attraction and a flagship local employer.
“I very much hope it’s not too late for this decision to be reversed.”
Ringwood Brewery was founded 45 years ago as one of the UK’s first microbreweries.
It was acquired by Marston’s plc in 2007 for £19.2m.
Three years ago Marston’s merged its brewing business, including Ringwood Brewery, with the UK arm of Carlsberg Group into a joint venture.
In June the brewery and its brands were put up for sale by Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company.
In a statement, Paul Davies, CEO of CMBC, said: “Having, over the last six months, been unable to secure a sale of our Ringwood Brewery operation in Hampshire, we have made the difficult decision to announce our intention to close the site.
“Given its limited space and residential location, the expansion and improvements required for the site to be competitive would be challenging and extremely costly.
“While we believe this is the right course of action for our business it is by no means a decision we have taken lightly.
“We are incredibly proud of the effort and dedication of our people at Ringwood Brewery – our priority now is to support colleagues affected by the proposals through the consultation period, which has now begun.”
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