A brewing giant has been warned it is threatening jobs and reducing drinkers’ choices by axing nearly a dozen beers from pubs.
Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) is dropping 11 popular types, blaming a drop in demand.
The company, a joint venture that was taken over by the Danish giant this year, has already shut down Cumbria-based Jennings Brewery, sold the Eagle Brewery to Spanish beer maker Damm and announced the closure of Wolverhampton’s Banks’s Brewery.
Now it is also being accused of “wiping out British heritage”.
Carlsberg Marston’s will delist eight cask ales and three kegged beers at the end of the year.
The delisted beers are: Banks’s Mild, Banks’s Sunbeam, Bombardier, Eagle IPA, Jennings Cumberland Ale, Mansfield Dark Smooth, Mansfield Original Bitter, Marston’s Old Empire, Marston’s 61 Deep, Ringwood Boondoggle and Ringwood Old Thumper.
But Jennings Cumberland, Marston’s Old Empire, Ringwood Boondoggle and Bombardier Amber Beer will still be available in bottles.
The Campaign for Real Ale said the cuts would hit jobs, British brewing and consumer choice.
Gillian Hough, of the organisation, said: "This is another example of a globally owned business wiping out UK brewing heritage.
"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."
Carlsberg paid £206m in July to take full control of the brewing joint venture it had with pub operator Marston’s.
A Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company spokesperson said it was always reviewing its lines but where demand had declined it had to delist beers.
Banks’s Mild will still be sold in kegs and in cans, and Bombardier Amber Beer will be available in cask and in bottles.
