They just don’t seem to get it, do they? Carlsberg are to close the Tetley brewery in Leeds, home since 1822 of Joshua Tetley’s finest. OK, it’s far from the greatest bitter in the world, but it’s as much part of the fabric of the city as the Corn Exchange, the Town Hall or Leeds United. Well, probably more so than the Whites, actually… but the point is that for all that it’s a national brand these days, it remains a local brew. Never mind that those brewers who actually promote cask beer don’t have declining sales. The decline in sales is probably more to do with the marketing directions Carlsberg has taken and the fact that they’ve ignored the local and regional importance of Tetleys as anything – rebranding the brewery as Carlsberg was never going to be anything other than cultural suicide. So now they intend to finish the job. Tetleys brewed in Northampton? Who would want to drink that?
Utter, utter madness.