Much the same as most of the Beer brands.
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
[Drinking] Dark Star to leave Sussex
- Thread starter Arthur
- Start date
Terry Butcher Tribute Act
Well-known member
- Aug 18, 2013
- 3,204
To be clear- it was shit when it got sold and is even shitter now the entire operation is being moved.
At least Burning Sky is something good to come from it and hopefully there will be others as you say.
Whataboutery doesn't make it right.
Marshy
Well-known member
Soon only Weatherspoons will be around....
I did go to Ansty as I owned pubs in the area at the time. I also went to Partridge Green. I know what passion was but as I stated it wasn't Asahi who sold the business was it?
FST had previously bought Gales and shut everything down. It's what breweries do. I would have done things slightly differently. It simply comes down to assets and Asahi owns the site at Greenwich, if they owned PG and leased Greenwich the likelihood would be Meantime moving the other way.
The key difference is when it moved around Sussex it was still only Dark Star they were not sharing anything with another entity, their tag line was Brewed in the Heart of Sussex, the move to Greenwich is neither Sussex nor Dark Star. I understand there are commercial considerations but moving from Partridge Green to Greenwich as a cost saving , why not move Greenwich to Partridge Green, I am sure rent will be cheap outside of London?
Whatever the commercial considerations, looking at the responses of the announcement on social media this has not gone down well with Dark Star supporters and I suspect will only end in one way. The history of the breweries moving/merging does not bode well for Dark Star, so its Kissingate and Firebird for me from now on, a sad day.
A bit like Greene King when they took over Hardys and Hansons?
Genuinely gutted about this. It's so characteristic of the Lake District and so many pubs that I've stayed in.
Wasn't long ago you could get Cumberland Ale (branded as taste the difference Lakeland Ale) in Sainsbury's.
But that's what's happened since beer was first brewed. if you look at history of breweries they have always bought other brewed and slowly cherry picked.
I think where beer is concerned, and I mean ales, supporters of those are always worried that they will disappear or be bought. There is in fact very few ales of distinction that remain and continue to be brewed in their original brewery.
If Dark Star had still been independent there is no way Asahi would have ever been interested in buying it. They traditionally look for larger breweries but then they look to keep the identity and location of them. That's why I stated the purchase of Carlton around the same time 10 Billion for them 250 million for Fullers. It shows that Fullers wasn't really on the cards at the time but FST approached Asahi. To be honest the only thing that probably stopped Asahi selling off Dark Star to become independent again was Hophead which the company sees as a great prospect to get countrywide exposure. Until the purchase of Fullers Asahi had never had a real ale brewery and it wasn't really being actively sort.
Last edited:
Site in London is owned.
A little perspective the sales of all Dark Star are less than 0.5% of the sales of all Asahi products in the UK. The FST contract is about 3% of sales in the UK. Peroni accounts for around 70% of profits in the UK.
It is sad but the original owners are to blame.
As you post you'll just go for another local brew that takes your fancy much like those on social media. You, me everyone may not like it but it's a big business decision. Much like all these "craft" breweries they eventually either get bought or struggle on in their own little way. The truth is a few supporters (I don't wish to sound condescending) moaning on social media will be unlikely to be heard at all by the management until I mention it at the next meeting!
The current climate doesn't bode well for the smaller breweries and the ongoing decline in real ale sales is a worry to those of us that enjoy proper beer.
Thank you for that very well constructed response which you clearly are well positioned to provide.
I am old enough to remember Gales Brewery they made HSB an old fashioned bitter which was very popular in these parts, Gales was purchased by Fullers who totally ruined HSB, another more close to home was king and Barns who also went in similar ways now I am not comparing Fullers to Ashanti but the point is small local breweries products are so important to there locality the French understand this they call it the Terrior we have no single word in the English language to translate but it means the land where it sits it’s degree of sun it’s temperatures the amount of rain soils acidity all make up Terrior, Dark Star, Gales and their new owners clearly haven’t understood Terrior as neither Hophead or HSB has been as good as it was originally, I will be amazed if the new move doesn’t have the same effect
Last edited:
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 35,332
was going to say something to that effect. once the original owner sells, there's not much can be done to keep any business tied to its origins.
get the impression theres a size ceiling for brewers, if they want to go beyond they have to sell now to get the scale. though i'm always surprised how far and wide Harvey's pops up and they haven't.
wuntbedruv
Imagine
Getting
Do Hall and Woodhouse still Brew K&B Sussex Bitter. In Hampshire/ Dorset?
Lankyseagull
One Step Beyond
Gales Festival Mild was a favourite of mine back in the day. Lunch in the Basketmakers before sitting in the rain at Withdean. Sadly, Fullers dropped Festival immediately after the takeover. They brought it back for a period a few years later, but it was not a patch on the Gales original. Gone, but not forgotten.
Ale is a subject and product close to many people’s hearts, including mine, having spent my career in the brewing and pub industry.
Whatever one’s views on takeovers and ‘big business’, as Piltdown Man says, just take a look at the history of pubs and brewing. Different breweries, beers and pubs have come and gone throughout the ages, but the fact remains that there is now a huge range of ales, national and local available throughout the U.K. The choice we now have in the average town would have been unimaginable back in the late sixties and seventies when the whole scene was dominated by the likes of Bass, Allied, Watneys, Courages and Whitbread.
Drink up whatever takes your fancy, there is plenty to enjoy.
Whatever one’s views on takeovers and ‘big business’, as Piltdown Man says, just take a look at the history of pubs and brewing. Different breweries, beers and pubs have come and gone throughout the ages, but the fact remains that there is now a huge range of ales, national and local available throughout the U.K. The choice we now have in the average town would have been unimaginable back in the late sixties and seventies when the whole scene was dominated by the likes of Bass, Allied, Watneys, Courages and Whitbread.
Drink up whatever takes your fancy, there is plenty to enjoy.
jakarta
Well-known member
No they don't brew any of the K&B Beers that they could do. Mostly because they they tasted shite when they tried...
Gales HSB, when still made by Gales was outstanding. The first Real Ale I liked.
Worried Man Blues
Well-known member
I was in Lyme Regis a couple of weeks ago and one of the shames, to me, is that nowadays driving past pubs you haven't a clue what they sell, you used to see a Watneys or a FST pub, now nothing. I ended drinking in a Palmers, good old fashioned brewery, I think, and even they didn't bother to put their brewery name on the front!
So 90-95% of Hophead is local then.
Harveys are happy to remain the size they are.
FST houses in the main still have full Fullers branding. Some of the back Street local pubs in and around Portsmouth are de-branded.
vegster
Sanity Clause
- May 5, 2008
- 27,905
Sounds like they got the old King and Barnes spot on then ?