NICs and rates to blame for BrewDog downfall, says former director

James Brown, the former CEO of BrewDog's bars division, has pointed the finger at Westminster in reaction to the Scottish brewer's downfall and subsequent site closures.

Following the news that Tilray Brands would acquire BrewDog's worldwide intellectual property, it was revealed a total of 38 bars in the UK will close with immediate effect, leading to 484 redundancies.

Brown (pictured), who is now CEO of Brava Hospitality Group, took to LinkedIn to share his perspective on BrewDog's fate, saying he "felt compelled to write something down" due to "lots of arm chair commentators who don't fully understand it".

In his post, Brown says when the news came it was "a very sad day. That unfortunately many of us could see coming". 

He goes on to share key trading figures behind many of the bars that have now been closed, revealing some were delivering revenues north of £60,000 a week as recently as 2024, before moving onto the government actions that rapidly changed this.

"In 2024, the majority of the bars that closed yesterday were profitable," say Brown. "Some were regularly delivering revenues north of £60,000 per week. Most were doing above £20,000. These were not failing venues in tired locations with no demand. But when National Insurance rises combine with huge increases in business rates, the maths change quickly. Profitable bars become marginal. Marginal bars become loss-making. The best bars profit is curbed and can support less others with the hope that things will get better.

"And when owners, old or new, have no confidence that the business environment will improve in the near future, and they have optionality of where to invest their capital, the decision is out of their hands. 

"This isn’t unique to BrewDog. It’s happening across thousands of venues up and down the country. The difference here is brand awareness, scale and visibility."

Brown goes on to offer help to any of his former colleagues. You can read his full statement here.

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