Carlsberg Britvic is a British subsidiary of Carlsberg Group, created in January 2025 by the merger of Carlsberg's UK business (including the former Marston's plc breweries) and Britvic, acquired by Carlsberg Group in 2024.

History

In 2020, Marston's plc merged its brewing business with Carlsberg UK (the United Kingdom arm of Carlsberg Group), 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 Britvic for £3.3bn, merging it into a single company called Carlsberg Britvic in January 2025.

Operations

Beers

The company owns and operates three breweries: * 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 in 2010. It was the only beer to use the oak Burton Union System 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, 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