Global beer giant Molson Coors has finalised the closure of Sharp’s brewery in Rock Cornwall. 40 jobs will be lost.
Canned and keg Sharps beers are already produced elsewhere but cask beer including Doom Bar which is on the bar in nearly 800 Wetherspoons pubs is to be moved to Camerons in Hartlepool. They are one of the biggest contract brewers in the UK.
While Doom Bar is not to the taste of many, it remains popular and certainly would not have a Spoons listing if it wasnt.
There are several issues beyond the job losses. One is beer provenance. Beer produced using Cornish water will not taste the same as that brewed with north-east water. The distinction may be a fine one for many but it leads to another point. While the Cornish pasty is protected, Cornish beer is not
Dave Pedlar, chairman of CAMRA Kernow, said the decision represented a significant blow to Cornwall’s brewing heritage and to workers at the site.
He said: “This is a betrayal of the founders of Sharp’s, the 40 people whose jobs are at risk, and the locals that have supported this business for decades.”
We’ve known for a while that the Sharp’s cask production was moving up country, but Hartlepool is 417 miles away, which is as far from Rock as Brussels. We need ‘pasty-style’ consumer protection laws that stop Molson Coors from continuing to market these beers as Cornish.”
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