Kmflett's Blog

When Tilray the US medical cannabis outfit brought Brewdog on March 2nd, Lords Cricket Ground exercised a clause in their contract that allowed them to exit if there was a change of ownership.

That left Lords with a tight timescale to find a new beer provider for the 20,000 plus seater cricket ground with the first County Championship games due to start at Easter.

Thanks to George Mann @sfgmann.bsky.social (who it appears may still have to suffer Brewdog at the London Stadium) I note from a report in the Daily Mail that the contract for a new beer provider is now out. I think we may take it, unsurprisingly, that the Mail has a contact at Lords…

The three named contenders are Carlsberg-Britvic, Heineken and Hawkstone.

Of three Carlsberg do brew cask beer (although they seem to have little interest in doing so) and it might well be that is successful bid would see Lords revert to selling Marstons. Heineken are not really in the beer market except they do own Beavertown, whose brewery at Ponders End could no doubt easily supply Lords. Even in their independent days Beavertown didn’t do cask although their long gone smoked porter Smog Rocket did occasionally make unannounced cask appearances.

Hawkstone is also a lager brewery although they do produce a 3.8% IPA. They are mainly known due to their link with Jeremy Clarkson but fortunately he has absolutely nothing to do with the brewing. In fact they produce decent beers.

After Brewdog, Lords might want to consider the issue of reputational damage. Both Carlsberg-Britvic and Heineken do this as BAU, closing breweries, reducing the strength of beer, hiking prices etc etc. However with Corporate Big Beer its factored in, no one expects any different.

The issue with Hawkstone is not the brewery but Clarkson and his speak first think afterwards policy. The first ever women’s Test Match at Lords is scheduled for the summer. Lords would be well advised to hire a minder for Clarkson for this period.