UK – Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC), a joint venture brewing company between Carlsberg UK and Marston’s PLC, has confirmed the sale of its closed London Fields Brewery and taproom to London pub operator Grace Land Group for an undisclosed sum.
London Fields Brewery, which was originally founded in 2011, was the first commercial brewery to open in Hackney since the 19th century.
It was originally put up for sale in March 2016, following the arrest of owner Julian De Vere Whiteway-Wilkinson on suspicion of fraud before being bought by Carlsberg in 2017.
A CMBC spokesperson said: “We are pleased to confirm the sale of London Fields Brewery to Grace Land Group. We wish Grace Land Group every success with their plans to relaunch the brewery as Saint Monday, which we look forward to seeing develop and continue the brewing legacy of this iconic site.”
Grace Land Group, founded in 2009, is set to relaunch the brewery as “Saint Monday” and will continue to brew beers at the production site.
The Group runs a collection of six pubs across north and east London. Its sites include The Earl of Essex in the borough of Islington, north London, and The Black Heart in Camden, north London.
The company’s director Anselm Chatwin said he was “very excited to add the newly named Saint Monday to the [Grace Land] Group”, adding his belief that “the addition will enhance the company’s adventure in beer”.
It is unclear if the London Fields Brewery brand, which was included in the sale of the assets to Grace Land, will continue to exist in any capacity.
Last November, CMBC also agreed to divest its Eagle Brewery in Bedford to Spanish brewer S.A. Damm (Damm) for an undisclosed amount.
The Eagle Brewery, sold to Marston’s in 2017, was to become the first Damm brewery outside of mainland Europe and only its second outside of Spain, allowing the company to strengthen its presence in one of its main foreign markets.
However, the Eagle Brewery’s beers will continue to be sold as part of Carlsberg’s portfolio, including British ale brand Hobgoblin and Brooklyn Pilsner.
Inaugurated in 1976, the factory, with a production capacity of 1 million hectoliters per year -mainly for draft beer production, also stands out for having a strategic location that places it just over 90 kilometers from London and 120 kilometers from Birmingham, the two most populous cities in England.
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