Carlsberg Britvic is a British subsidiary of

Carlsberg Group Carlsberg A/S (; ) is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. Th ...

, created in January 2025 by the merger of Carlsberg's UK business (including the former

Marston's plc Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded as a brewery by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2020, the company shifted its main focus away from its original brewing operations, entering it ...

breweries) and

Britvic Britvic was a British producer of soft drinks based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It produced soft drinks under its own name, as well as several other brands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Carlsberg Group an ...

, acquired by Carlsberg Group in 2024.

History

In 2020,

merged its brewing business with Carlsberg UK (the United Kingdom arm of

), in a joint venture valued at £780m. Marston's took a 40% stake and received up to £273m in cash. The deal involved Marston's six breweries and distribution depots, but not its 1,400 pubs. The merger was approved by the Competition and Markets Authority on 9 October 2020. In 2024, Marston's sold their 40% share in CMBC to Carlsberg for £206m in order to focus on running the pub business. The deal to acquire Marston's 40% stake in CMBC was completed on 21 July 2024. Carlsberg then bought the soft drinks company

for £3.3bn, merging it into a single company called Carlsberg Britvic in January 2025.

Operations

Beers

The company owns and operates three

breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

: * The Banks's Brewery in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. * The Marston's Brewery in

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

. * The Carlsberg Brewery in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

. The brewery was one of the last major brewers to use Burton Union Sets, a system whereby fermentation barrels and troughs were linked together by pipework. Half of all the company's beer is bottled. Marston's Pedigree is brewed in Burton-upon-Trent: it is a 4.3% ABV bitter. Introduced in 1952, it is Marston's flagship brand, selling 150,000

hectolitres The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter (American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cubic ...

in 2010. It was the only beer to use the oak

Burton Union System Beer is produced through steeping a sugar source (commonly Malted cereal grains) in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was ...

so that it was fermented in wood; the ingredients are mineral-enriched Burton Water, malted barley, and Fuggles and Goldings hops. The Burton Union sets were retired in 2024. Marston's had been brewing Thwaites' beers since early 2014 after Thwaites main brewery in Blackburn was shut down. Marston's acquired Thwaites' main brewing arm, including the Wainwright brand, in March 2015 for £25.1 million. Other beers distributed by the company include the 1664 brand, which was acquired from Heineken N.V. in June 2023.

Soft drinks

Soft drinks include Robinsons,

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

, R. White's, and J₂O.

Sponsorship

From 2007 to 2017, Marston's sponsored the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

and Marston's Pedigree was the official beer of the England Cricket team. They were exclusive beer advertisers and suppliers at home test matches.

Notes

References

External links

Carlsberg Marstons Brewing Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marston's Brewery Beer brands Breweries in England British companies established in 1834 Companies based in Wolverhampton Food and drink companies established in 1834 Food and drink companies established in 1890