Dismay as brewing giant calls time on Banks's beers

A total of eight cask ales are being discontinued, also including Eagle IPA, Jennings Cumberland, Marston's Old Empire,, Marston's 61, Ringwood Boondoggle, and Ringwood Old Thumper. The keg versions of Bombardier, Mansfield Dark Smooth and Mansfield Original Bitter are also being dropped.

They will cease to be available to pub landlords by the end of the year. The bombshell news comes weeks after the company announced that the city's Park Brewery is to close next year, after 150 years.

Shelly Bentley, West Midland regional director for the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), said she could barely believe the news.

"I'm in total shock, it's hard to take it in," said Mrs Bentley, who lives in Sedgley.

"It's like kicking somebody when they are down. It was bad enough that they are closing the brewery, but now they are getting rid of our best beers. I can understand them closing the brewery, it is a business and it did have a lot of spare capacity. But where I drink, the Swan at Compton, it is still the beer everybody asks for, it still seems to be popular.

"I though Sunbeam was doing well, it's a cracking beer. It was only supposed to be a special edition, but it became so popular they made it permanent."

Banks's was Britain's biggest selling mild ale, and was credited with introducing many people to cask beers.

Banks's mild will still be sold in cans in shops, and also in pubs as the Smoothpour keg beer. Banks's bitter, now branded as Amber, will continue to be produced.

Banks's had been facing an uncertain since it was announced that the brewing side of parent company Marston's - formerly Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries - was being taken over by the Danish lager giant Carlsberg.

A spokeswoman for Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) said: “As the UK’s largest cask ale brewer, CMBC is passionate about cask ale and delivering a sustainable, successful future for this important part of British beer culture. 

"Like any brewer, we are always reviewing our lines to best appeal to our consumers and help grow cask ale while delivering the highest quality brews. 

"Understandably, where demand has sadly declined we do have to make the difficult choice to delist beers. We continue to invest in and launch new cask ales as well as support popular traditional cask ales ranging from Banks’s Amber Bitter to Marston’s Pedigree.” 

Jennings Cumberland ale, Marston’s Old Empire IPA and Ringwood Boondoggle will continue to be sold as bottled beer, while Bombardier Amber will be available in cask and in bottles.

Banks's mild was first brewed in 1874, when maltsters John and Henry Banks started brewing at their warehouse in Newbridge, Wolverhampton. The venture proved so successful that they decided to quit the malt wholesale trade, and the following year they opened Park brewery in Wolverhampton. 

In 1890 Banks's merged with Dudley-based George Thompson & Sons and also the Fox and Victoria breweries of Wolverhampton. This gave the newly formed Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries 193 outlets for its beers, and saw the emergence of both towns as major brewing centres. There was further expansion in 1943, when the company acquired Dudley-bases Julia Hanson & Son. In 1999 it acquired Burton-based Marston, Evershed & Thompson, along with Mansfield Brewery. It closed the latter, and moved production to Wolverhampton.

In 2020, it was announced that the Competition and Market Authority had given the go-ahead for a partnership between Marston's and Danish lager giant Carlsberg, ruling that it would not breach competition law. Earlier this year, it was announced that Carlsberg would be taking over the brewing side of the operation, to form Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company, while the pub side of the business would be run by Wolverhampton-based Marston's. In October it was announced that Banks's Park Brewery will close at the end of next year, 150 years since it opened.

The Campaign for Real Ale said the decision to discontinue the beers proved that the conglomerate, which now owns a sizable chunk of the UK brewing scene, will have a huge impact on both pubs and pubgoers.

"CMBC’s latest move will deal brewing, consumer choice, and industry jobs another blow," the organisation said.

"Despite an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority finding that the merger of Marston’s and Carlsberg would not have negative effects, it is now confirmed that the consolidation of the businesses will be followed by the consolidation of their brands, resulting in a huge loss of choice at the bar for consumers. Eight cask beers and a further three keg brands will no longer be available to pubs, regardless of whether licensees wish to order them, including big names like Banks’s Mild and Bombardier.

Camra campaigns director Gillian Hough said: “This is another example of a globally owned business wiping out UK brewing heritage.

“I hope that this change will mean space on the bar for licensees to stock guest beers from local independent breweries, but realistically, I suspect this isn’t what CMBC plans. This loss of consumer choice is the inevitable outcome of a brewing conglomerate run by accountants and the bottom line. This is a sad and disappointing decision that puts both the history and the future of British brewing in jeopardy.”