Carlsberg "very disappointed" at Enterprise decision

Carlsberg has said it is "very disappointed and surprised" at Enterprise Inn's decision to delist its draught beer from the end of next January.

Enterprise Inns, which owns around 7,750 pubs across the country, has sent a letter to its licensees outlining the decision to withdraw both Carlsberg Draught and InBev's Castlemaine XXXX, saying both lagers are "no longer viable" due to dwindling consumer demand.

However, a spokeswoman for Carlsberg said: "Carlsberg UK is very disappointed and surprised by the recent decision from Enterprise Inns to actively remove the Carlsberg brand from their estate.

"It seems a strange decision to deprive their tenants of a brand that is popular with five million drinkers, is the best performing of the three major standard lager brands in the UK and one of the five biggest beer brands in the on-trade.

"Whilst ultimately it is Enterprise's choice to decide which brands they stock, we are not clear why Enterprise Inns has decided that Draught Carlsberg in 'no longer viable' in their business, as they have almost 1,500 tenants choosing to stock the product, which will be more than the majority of draught brands that they list."

Expressing concern about the Enterprise tenants who sell Carlsberg, the spokeswoman added: "In a very challenging market place with declining beer sales and pubs closing at a rate of around five a day, they will now risk losing valuable customers and will be at a commercial disadvantage to other local pubs that are nearby."

Carlsberg said it remains committed to the on-trade and will be announcing a new "ground-breaking" initiative to support on-trade customers "in the coming weeks".