BrewDog: Full list of 38 bars to close amid 484 redundancies

BrewDog has revealed the names of 38 pubs that have closed with immediate effect after the craft beer giant fell into administration.

 

Earlier today (2 March), US beverage and medical cannabis company Tilray Brands purchased the company’s UK brewing operations in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, and the Hop Hub, Lanarkshire, in addition to its extensive brand portfolio and 11 pubs across the UK and Ireland.

 

While the £33m deal preserved 733 jobs in the UK, with BrewDog employees to follow a TUPE process to become employees of Tilray Brands UK, there have also been 484 redundancies as a result of the transaction.

 

Joint administrators AlixPartners confirmed the closure of 38 bars across the UK, most of which are in England.  

 

It added that no offer was made at any stage of the sales process, from any prospective bidder, which would have preserved BrewDog in its entirety.

 

The administrators also stated there will be no return to any equity holders, including those that were granted under the Equity for Punks scheme, from this transaction.

 

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

 

Clare Kennedy, partner and managing director at AlixPartners, said: “As one would expect over the past two weeks, we have received significant interest in the BrewDog business from prospective buyers across both the trade and investment communities. In Tilray, we have secured a purchaser with a passion for craft brewing who will be an excellent custodian and sponsor of the business in the months and years ahead.

 

“Having done so, our priority now is to support, to the fullest extent possible, those people whose roles have been made redundant, and we would ask operators within the UK leisure sector who are in a position to assist to contact us at any time.”

 

The administrators have encouraged other leisure operators in the UK to offer employment opportunities elsewhere in the sector.

 

BrewDog was founded by James Watt and Martin Dickie in 2007. Watt stepped down from BrewDog in 2024, while Dickie left the business last year, citing personal reasons.

 

Last month, the brewer appointed AlixPartners to review a restructuring plan and explore a potential sale after announcing in January it would cease distilling spirits at its base in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, in the coming months.

 

In October last year, BrewDog confirmed a round of job cuts, with chief executive James Taylor stating in a note to employees that it was necessary to “right-size parts of the business” as a result of a “tough and fast-changing market”.

 

In July, BrewDog had also closed 10 bars across the UK, including its Aberdeen flagship.

 

BrewDog reported a pre-tax loss of £37m in 2024, the fifth year in a row it had failed to make a profit.

 

Which BrewDog pubs are closing with immediate effect?

England (29)

 

Basingstoke

Bath

Bournemouth

Bristol – Baldwin Street, Harbourside

Cambridge

Cardiff

Carlisle

Cheltenham

Exeter

London – Soho, Camden Road, Chancery Lane, Clerkenwell, Ealing, Hammersmith, Seething Lane, Tower Bridge, Wandsworth

Liverpool

Manchester – DogHouse Manchester, Manchester Outpost

Milton Keynes

Newcastle

Norwich

Nottingham

Plymouth

Reading

Southampton

 

Scotland (9)

 

Aberdeen – Castlegate, Union Square

Edinburgh – Cowgate

Glasgow – Merchant City, Argyle Street

Inverurie

Perth

St Andrews

Stirling

 

Which BrewDog pubs have been acquired by Tilray?

England (7)

 

Birmingham

London - Canary Wharf, Paddington, Seven Dials, Tower Hill, Waterloo

Manchester - Peter Street

 

Scotland (3)

 

Ellon - DogTap

Edinburgh - DogHouse Edinburgh, Edinburgh Lothian Road

 

Ireland (1)

 

Dublin