Nick Baker: Molson Coors is 'the right buyer for Sharp's'

By Hamish Champ

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Molson coors Cornwall

Nick Baker, until today the co-owner of Cornwall's Sharp's Brewery, said the sale of the business to Molson Coors was the right thing to do and the...

Nick Baker, until today the co-owner of Cornwall's Sharp's Brewery, said the sale of the business to Molson Coors was the right thing to do and the Burton-based brewing giant was the right company to sell it to.

With a track record of building up businesses in the food services sector and then selling them, Baker said a similar strategy was always on the cards for Sharp's, which he and business partner Joe Keohane bought from the brewer's founder, Bill Sharp, in October 2003.

"In this case it was about finding the right partner and in Molson Coors we have done that," he said.

Baker said Sharp's had been looking to increase its exposure in the North and the Midlands but that it was a "big ask" to expect a company the size of Sharp's to do that on its own.

The £20m deal has been the subject of talks between the two businesses since early last year, he added.

"We've worked with Molson Coors from a number of years and come to respect them," Baker said. "They are very competent people and we trust them. Plus they are purely brewers, with no pubs, so they are specialists."

Baker said he wanted to make it "abundantly clear" that there were no plans to close the Sharp's brewery in Rock, North Cornwall, nor were there to be any job losses.

"Sharp's Brewery Limited stays as is, in Rock. We've just had investment plans approved and as I speak there are new fermenting vessels due to be installed into the brewery.

"There has been a great deal of investment in the business recently and then there is the provenance of it being a Cornish product," he said.

Sharp's Factoid: The brewer's best known cask ale brand is named after the sand bank that lies at the mouth of the River Camel, which is known as the Doom Bar…

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