Doom Bar Maker Sharp’s Brewery In Cornwall To Be Closed By Us Owner

The Cornish brewery that makes Doom Bar ale is to beryllium closed by its US owner, throwing nan celebrated brew brand’s early into uncertainty and putting astir 200 jobs astatine risk.

The drinks institution Molson Coors said it plans to unopen Sharp’s Brewery successful Rock, Wadebridge, on pinch its nationalist telephone centre successful Wales, saying it was “no longer financially sustainable”.

The Chicago-based company, which bought Sharp’s 15 years ago, said it was readying to adjacent nan tract down by nan extremity of this twelvemonth but that it “remains committed” to Sharp’s brew brands.

Founded successful 1994, astir of Sharp’s income travel from Doom Bar, which is among nan bestselling cask ales successful nan UK, and named aft a notoriously vulnerable sandbank successful Cornwall’s Camel estuary. Sharp’s besides makes Atlantic and Twin Coast ray ales.

Tom Stainer, main executive of nan Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said it was “just different illustration of a global brewing giant destroying nan nation’s cask brewing heritage. Sharp’s has been brewing cask for complete 30 years and this will conscionable beryllium dismantled overnight.”

Molson Coors said it was exploring imaginable deals pinch different producers to support making nan beer, including brewing successful different parts of nan country. But Stainer added that immoderate plans to nutrient nan Cornish beers extracurricular nan region “would beryllium a disgrace”.

“We are losing acold excessively galore cask brands and nan breweries who trade them astatine nan hands of world brewers much willing successful profit than our brewing heritage, and making judge drinkers tin bask authentic products,” he said.

When Molson Coors bought nan Cornwall tract for £20m successful 2011, it said it was “100% committed to existent ale and cask brew astatine Rock” and moreover suggested nan brewery could beryllium expanded.

But connected Thursday, nan US firm, which besides makes Carling, Coors Light and Staropramen, said it had explored “every replacement action to make nan tract financially sustainable”.

The scheme was portion of a broader restructuring to “unlock efficiencies and cost-savings to substance nan company’s semipermanent growth”, it added.

Ben Maguire, nan Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, said nan closure was “a hammer rustle for nan section economy, and for nan hospitality assemblage present successful Cornwall that is already connected its past legs”.

He said: “It is profoundly disappointing to spot an American multinational move accumulation retired of Cornwall, and ministers should look astatine giving Cornish beers, ales, and different drinks nan aforesaid protections arsenic nan Cornish pasty, truthful that what is branded Cornish is genuinely made here.”

Simon Kerry, managing head of Molson Coors successful nan UK and Ireland, said nan closure “has not been an easy determination for america to make … However, nan tract is nary longer financially sustainable arsenic portion of our nationalist accumulation network.”

About 50 group look redundancy astatine nan Rock brewery, arsenic good arsenic nan 150 who activity astatine its telephone centre successful Wales. Molson Coors said it was closing that tract because astir 90% of its customer orders were now made online.

Molson Coors had “evolved our business arsenic portion of our digitisation journey,” Kerry said, adding: “The projected closure of our National Contact Centre is nary reflection connected nan superb activity of our teams, but is successful consequence to these changes.”