Budweiser Brewing Group to invest over £115m in two UK breweries

Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev subsidiary Budweiser Brewing Group (BBG) UK&I has revealed plans to invest more than £115m in its two major UK breweries, Magor Brewery in South Wales and Samlesbury Brewery in Lancashire.

Currently, the company employs more than 1,000 people across the two sites.

Budweiser Brewing Group’s investment will focus on the installation of advanced and eco-friendly infrastructure at both breweries.

These upgrades will increase brewing capacity, canning and bottling by a total of 3.6 million hectolitres (mhl), which is equivalent to 630 million pints per year.

The company will provide £72m to Magor Brewery for the installation of a new bottling line to increase brewing capacity, eight fermenting units and an improved wort cooler, which will lead to significant energy savings.

The investment will create 32 new jobs in operational and management roles and increase the brewery’s production capacity by 1.6mhl.

The Samlesbury Brewery will see an investment of £45m for installing a canning line for new sustainable plastic ring-free cans and modifications in the brewing, utilities and logistics segment to increase brewing capacity.

The investment is expected to create 23 jobs in operational and specialist engineering roles at the site.

Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I president Paula Lindenberg said: “Like many in the UK, we are focussed on a strong recovery of our economy, our communities and our country. By investing in our breweries with new roles and new technology to increase capacity, we’re ensuring that we can brew and deliver great beers for many years to come.

“We know the beer industry is hugely valuable to the UK economy, and we believe our investments in our UK operations will be a catalyst for the recovery post-Covid.”