Carlsberg Marston to close Ringwood Brewery

Carlsberg Marston Brewing Company (CMBC) has decided to close Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire. 

Founded in 1978, it was one of the first UK’s microbreweries and moved in 1986 to the current site in Christchurch Road, which is historically the location of the 19th Century Tunks Brewery. 

In 2007, it was purchased by Marston’s for £19.2m. In May 2020, it was announced that Marston’s would merge its brewing business, including Ringwood, with the UK arms of Carlsberg Group into a joint venture. 

In June 2023, the brewery and its brands were put up for sale by CMBC. According to Anthony Swift, who was leading a consortium of private investors hoping to keep the business open, the brewery lost 75% of its production in recent years as well as experiencing plummeting employment rates at the site and the cancellation of brewery tours. 

Swift said: “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.”