Kmflett's Blog

The business debacle that is Brewdog continues to cause issues.

When the US outfit Tilray bought the brewery and brand on March 2nd it might have been assumed that they had also bought the pubs. 11 stayed open and 38 were shut with workers sacked on the spot- almost certainly unfairly.

It now transpires that Tilray did not buy all the pubs. In fact 38 remain with the administrator Alix Partners.

Tilray have previously said they were not able to fully assess what they had bought due to the short timescales involved (effectively Brewdog were bankrupt). Having done so they now propose to acquire and re-open a further five or six bars.

Two of these appear to be Aberdeen and the BBC have reported that sacked Brewdog workers have been approached by Tilray to see if they want their jobs back. Terms and conditions are not revealed.

Unite the Union which represents Brewdog workers but remains unrecognised by the employer have stated that Tilray’s actions amount to fire and rehire. That is workers are sacked but then re-engaged on new contracts without consultation on terms.

The practice will become illegal under the Employment Relations Act 2025 from January 2027.

Despite Tilray claiming they want to move on from the James Watt era it appears they are stuck with the same reputational damage mindset that characterised his tenure at the brewer.

Brewdog accused of ‘fire and rehire’ approach to ex-workers – BBC News