Employees obtained 25 minutes’ discover of a 15-minute Zoom name on which cameras had been switched off and questions had been banned.
Exterior view of a closed Brewdog pub (Picture: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Photos/Shutterstock)
A whole bunch of Brewdog employees had been sacked yesterday in some of the brutal mass redundancies in hospitality historical past after US cannabis-to-beverage big Tilray Manufacturers snapped up the troubled Scottish brewer’s UK operations, model and 11 pubs for simply £33 million. The deal, accomplished on Monday after Brewdog collapsed into administration, saved 733 jobs by transferring them to Tilray. However 38 bars throughout the UK had been shut instantly, axing 484 positions with no warning.
Unite union organiser Bryan Simpson known as the method “morally repugnant”. Employees obtained 25 minutes’ discover of a 15-minute Zoom name on which cameras had been switched off and questions had been banned. Bryan Simpson mentioned: “I’ve been representing bar employees for over a decade and that is the worst mass redundancy I’ve handled, together with through the pandemic.”
James Watt and Martin Dickie (Picture: SWNS)
Many employees realized they’d not be paid for weekend shifts or February extra time. Accrued vacation pay was worn out. They had been instructed to say statutory redundancy and unpaid wages from the Authorities’s Insolvency Service – at taxpayers’ expense.
One sacked worker instructed the BBC: “They’ve washed their palms of us. We are able to’t even accumulate our belongings with out going by means of the directors. And we’ve been warned to not communicate out.”
Tilray, listed in New York and Toronto, purchased the worldwide Brewdog model, mental property, UK brewing operations and 11 worthwhile brewpubs, together with Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Canary Wharf. The property generate roughly $200 million (£154 million) in annual income and $6-8 million in adjusted EBITDA, with Tilray forecasting cash-flow positivity from 2027.
Chairman and chief government Irwin Simon hailed the acquisition as an opportunity to “refocus Brewdog on the craft beer excellence that made it beloved”. Irwin Simon promised funding to revive progress and mentioned the mixed Tilray beverage platform would hit $500 million in annual income.
But for 1000’s of small traders in Brewdog’s Fairness for Punks scheme – launched in 2009 and as soon as touted as a means for followers to personal a slice of the punk empire – there may be nothing. The 200,000 backers, many bizarre drinkers who sank £500 or extra into shares, will obtain zero return. Desire shares held by US private-equity agency TSG Client Companions since 2017 take precedence.
Investor Richard Fisher, who misplaced £12,000, mentioned: “It’s being bought for elements. There was by no means going to be something left for us.”
Directors AlixPartners confirmed fairness holders, together with employees shareholders, would get “pennies on the pound or most likely nothing”.
The collapse marks a grim finish for the corporate based in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, as soon as valued at greater than £2 billion. Years of scandals over office tradition, allegations of bullying and inappropriate behaviour, the abandonment of the residing wage and earlier bar closures had already shredded its status.
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Mr Watt stepped down as CEO in 2024; Mr Dickie left in 2025. Final month the agency was put up on the market. Now the “punk” beer empire has been carved up, its bars shuttered and its employees discarded whereas a brand new proprietor guarantees to revive the model.
Brewdog has been approached for remark.
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