Bars close and hundreds lose jobs as US firm buys Brewdog in £33m deal

3 hours ago 2

Craig WilliamsBBC Scotland

Getty Images A person walks past a Brewdog bar. The sign on the wall has the name of the company in large blue letters.

Hundreds of people have been made redundant and dozens of bars have closed after craft beer firm Brewdog went into administration.

US beverage and medical cannabis company Tilray has bought the company's UK brewing operations, brand and 11 pubs in a £33m deal.

Administrators said the sale had preserved 733 jobs - but that 484 jobs had been lost and 38 bars had closed after they were not included in the rescue deal.

And they said no equity holders - including those who invested in the brewer's Equity for Punks scheme - would get any return from the deal.

Aberdeenshire-based Brewdog announced last month that consultants AlixPartners had been brought in after the firm failed to make a profit in recent years. On Monday, they were appointed as administrators.

AlixPartners said there had been "significant interest" in the company but that it had not received any offer which would have preserved Brewdog in its entirety.

"Regrettably, a total of 38 bars in the UK will close with immediate effect, leading to 484 redundancies," said the administrators.

Unite, which represents thousands of hospitality workers, said it was was a "devastating day" and pledged to secure "legal and financial justice" for its members.

Sharon Graham, the union's general secretary, added: "BrewDog workers built this brand. They deserved respect. Instead, they were treated as disposable pawns."

Bryan Simpson, Unite's national lead for hospitality, described the conduct of senior management as "nothing short of a national disgrace".

He added: "For the CEO to tell workers that they were redundant with immediate effect, on a conference call with only 25 minutes notice, has echoes of P&O and is deplorable."

Inside the Brewdog brewery in Aberdeenshire

Tilray will take control of Brewdog facilities including its brewery in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, and The Hop Hub, a national distribution centre in Motherwell, Lanarkshire.

BrewDog's 18 franchise bars in the UK and internationally will continue to operate.

Tilray, which was founded in Canada but is now headquartered in New York, already owns several US craft beer brands.

It described the deal as a significant opportunity for growth in the UK and international markets.

The two firms are still negotiating for a deal on Brewdog's assets in the United States and Australia.

Brewdog's German arm - which includes a brewery and bar in Berlin - was not included in the sale and will be liquidated.

Brewdog, which was founded by friends James Watt and Martin Dickie in 2007, has four breweries and about 100 pubs around the globe.

All its bars were closed on Monday to enable staff to attend staff meetings, and online sales were temporarily suspended.

Getty Images Martin Dickie (left) and James Watt at an Esquire event in New York in 2013

Concerns had been raised in recent weeks about what might happen to the company's small investors in the event of a sale.

In 2009, the firm launched a fundraising scheme called Equity for Punks.

About 200,000 people put money into the scheme, which offered a stake in the company, discounts and perks.

The investors typically spent about £500 on shares costing £20 to £30 each, although others invested larger sums.

Before it closed to new investors in 2021, Equity for Punks is said to have raised £75m which was used to expand the business into an international brand.

In 2017 a US equity firm TSG Consumer Partners acquired a 22% stake in Brewdog.

But unlike the Equity for Punks' "ordinary" shareholders, TSG was given "preference shares".

That meant that if Brewdog was sold, TSG was first in the queue to get back its investment plus any return owed, possibly leaving little or nothing for small investors.

Last month, the company halted production of gin and vodka brands at its distillery in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

Brewdog had announced job cuts across the business in October last year, after posting a £37m loss.

Earlier in 2025 it announced the closure of 10 bars across the UK, including its flagship pub in Aberdeen.

The company employed around 1,400 people.

When it was founded in Aberdeenshire the firm portrayed itself as a rebellious challenger to a UK brewing industry it regarded as stuffy and corporate.

But in 2024, the firm faced a backlash after revealing it would no longer hire new staff on the real living wage, instead paying the lower legal minimum wage.

Watt later stood down as chief executive officer and moved to a newly-created position of "captain and co-founder".

Dickie left the company last year, saying that he took the decision for personal reasons.

How a rebel outsider fell flat

Getty Images Bottles of Dead Pony Club beer

Brewdog is now an epic story of boom and bust, writes news correspondent David Henderson.

This punk brand, apparently born in a Fraserburgh garage, was a marketing dream.

Within a decade its value had soared to about £1bn - but then trouble set in.

It staggered through the Covid pandemic, then its reputation took a hammering, and the last five years have been a painful hangover.

In that time it failed to make a profit, losing almost £150m in the process, and it was mired in debt.

The new owners are buying what they see as the profitable bits of the company in the UK .

But most of its UK pubs, and their workers, will be left behind - and because Brewdog went into administration, small investors are set to pay a price.

They look set to lose the £75m stake they bought through the Equity for Punks scheme

In the end, Brewdog, the rebel outsider, has fallen flat like any old corporate failure.