Buyouts and co-ops 'could save brewers'
The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has called for management buyouts and the formation of co-operatives to stop more regional and family breweries from closing.
Camra claims doomed breweries such as Ridley's and Gales could have been saved if new forms of social ownership were encouraged.
Trusts involving brewery employees, pub tenants and drinkers could play a crucial role in saving breweries Roger Protz.
Radical proposals to save more independent and family brewers were made at the launch this week of the Good Beer Guide 2007.
Editor Roger Protz believes Gales and Ridley's were the right size to be run by their management or via a co-operative, citing management buyout of the Highgate Brewery from Bass in 1995 as an example.
Family-owned breweries with no stock market involvement should offer the companies to the workforce in the first instance, he said.
Protz said family owners avoid paying capital gains tax if they sell to employees and let them pay over five years.
"If a family demands the cash up-front, their employees still have the option of raising money from loans or grants and seeking support from trade unions," he suggested.
Protz said industry is already well-populated with co-operatives such as the John Lewis Partnership and several league football clubs.
"It would be naïve to suggest running a professional football club is analogous to controlling a brewery.
"But both have loyal fan bases - trusts involving brewery employees, pub tenants and drinkers could play a crucial role in saving breweries and protecting them from take-overs and closures."
