Lord’s Cricket Ground has decided to part ways with BrewDog as its official beer provider following the brewery’s recent £33 million acquisition by a major US cannabis company.

Located in St John’s Wood, northwest London, the iconic ‘Home of Cricket’ has terminated its agreement with BrewDog, known for its rebellious branding, after just a year into their partnership.

When the collaboration was announced in November 2024, the owners of Lord’s described it as a groundbreaking deal, stating BrewDog would serve as the ‘official beer supplier’ for the next four years.

At the time, BrewDog’s CEO James Arrow expressed that the agreement was ‘one of the most monumental achievements we could ever hope for our business’.

However, the partnership has now concluded. This was confirmed by Robert Lawson, the chief executive and secretary of the Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns Lord’s, in a letter addressed to MCC members.

Once valued at £2 billion, the Scottish brewery BrewDog was recently sold to the US-based cannabis and beverage company Tilray for a significantly lower amount earlier this month.

A total of 38 UK bars were closed, as chief executive James Taylor told 484 staff in a conference call that they were no longer employed.

Shares owned by the 220,000 ‘equity punks’ who invested some £75million in the company over seven funding rounds are now practically worthless.

The MCC has ended its partnership with BrewDog to provide beer at Lord’s Cricket Ground (pictured during the World Cup final between England and New Zealand in July 2019)

The current Lord’s ground, which hosted its first first-class cricket match in 1814 and first Test, now has a capacity of 31,100 and is home to county club Middlesex.

Mr Lawson told MCC members: ‘I am writing to inform you that the MCC Committee has taken the decision to end its contracts with BrewDog, both as an Official Partner of MCC and as the Official Beer Supplier at Lord’s.

‘Following recent changes to the brewery’s business operations, the club believes this is the right step to ensure certainty and continuity ahead of the 2026 season. A competitive tender process to appoint a new supplier for the coming season and beyond will now begin.’

He insisted steps had been taken to ensure ‘no disruption to service’ at Lord’s amid preparations for the summer 2026 season.

And he confirmed that ‘ongoing relationships’ with real ale providers Adnam’s and Thornbridge would continue.

Mr Lawson added: ‘We are proud that 2025 saw record beer sales at Lord’s, reflecting a strong first year of the partnership.

‘However, our priority is to guarantee the high-quality matchday experience that Members and visitors rightly expect; to do this, we need certainty from our suppliers.

‘We thank BrewDog for their contribution over the past year.’

Martin Dickie and James Watt (pictured) founded BrewDog in 2007. The firm has now been sold for a fraction of its market value, with hundreds of people out of work

The Daily Mail has approached BrewDog for comment. 

Company sources have indicated the end of the deal was contractual, with a change of ownership triggering one of its clauses, while also highlighting a 26 per cent rise in beer sales at the ground over the past year.

Brewdog’s millionaire co-founder James Watt, married to I’m A Celebrity and Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo, earlier this month posted a statement on social media in which he expressed contrition over the company’s downfall.

Describing the previous week as ‘incredibly hard’, he wrote: ‘I am heartbroken for all of the hard working and passionate team members who have lost their jobs. 

‘I am heartbroken for all of our brilliant equity punks who did not get the return on their investment they wanted. 

‘And heartbroken to have dedicated the best 20 years of my life to something that ultimately did not have the ending we all wished for.’

Mr Watt – who stepped back from the role of CEO in 2024 amid allegations of a toxic culture within BrewDog – said he would have ‘loved to save every single job and every single equity punk investment’ but ‘couldn’t’, adding: ‘That will stay with me.’

Mr Watt, who co-founded Brewdog in 2007 with schoolfriend Martin Dickie, added that ‘with the benefit of hindsight’ the firm had expanded too quickly and diversified too widely.

He also said he had not responded to PR crises in a way that was ‘authentic and true to who I am’.

‘I am sorry that I was not able to repay the faith you bestowed in me with the outcome you all deserved,’ he signed off the post.

Observers on social media responded with a mix of well-wishing and criticism – with responses highlighting how Mr Watt and Mr Dickie shared in a reported £100million payday when they sold 22 per cent of the firm to US investment firm TSG Partners.

The 2017 deal gave TSG ‘preferential’ shares that entitled them to a return on their investment in the event the company was sold – over and above other investors, including the so-called ‘equity punks’ that are now unlikely to get any money back.

An email sent to investors following the takeover, seen by the Daily Mail, thanked amateur investors for contributions and said they would continue to receive benefits such as discounts – including an additional discount for those with BrewDog tattoos.

The email added: ‘We know you will have questions, and we ask for your patience while we focus on supporting our people and stabilising the business.’

Some 733 staff have been retained in the sale, including operational staff and those working at 11 franchised pubs. 

But those who were sacked were told to claim for lost wages via the Insolvency Service after the firm was put into administration, according to the BBC – putting the onus on the public purse to pick up the tab.

They were given little notice of the conference call that saw them sacked – which has been compared to the mass sacking conducted by P&O Ferries in 2022.

Bryan Simpson, lead organiser of Unite’s hospitality branch, described the conduct of BrewDog management as ‘nothing short of a national disgrace’.

‘This has all the hallmarks of the scandal at P&O Ferries… it is a disgrace that lessons have clearly not been learned across corporate Britain,’ he told the Mail.

‘A company does not lose 97 per cent of its value in nine years without catastrophic mismanagement.’

He added that the union is demanding answers over unpaid wages with appointed administrator AlixPartners.

James Brown, the former CEO of BrewDog’s bars division, said the Government should shoulder some blame for BrewDog’s woes after hiking National Insurance.

He wrote on LinkedIn: ‘For years now, government policy on rates and employment taxes has steadily eroded confidence in hospitality.’

‘The leadership over the nearly 20 years of BrewDog could never have envisaged the world post Brexit, Post Covid and the tax, costs and admin burden facing businesses today.’

BrewDog grew from a small beer brewing business founded by Watt and Dickie in 2007 to the world’s leading craft beer brand at its peak in the late 2010s.

However, it was plagued by a series of public relations misfires and allegations of a toxic working culture and inappropriate behaviour by Mr Watt, who has vehemently denied any wrongdoing over the years.

In 2022, a BBC documentary aired claims that he had kissed a drunk customer and that female staff were given advice on how to avoid unwelcome attention from him on visits to bars.

Mr Watt later apologised for making anyone feel ‘uncomfortable’ but hired private detectives to investigate those who had raised concerns and went to regulator Ofcom challenging the programme’s claims. It upheld none of his complaints. 

BrewDog has four breweries – its main headquarters in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Columbus, Ohio, in the US, Brisbane in Australia; and German capital Berlin.

The firm told investors its international businesses were ‘being reviewed’ – but the Berliner Morgenpost has reported that the German arm of the business is likely to be liquidated. It closed one Berlin bar last month.

Martin Dickie, co-founder of BrewDog, stepped away in 2025, citing personal reasons.

Mr Watt has since co-founded his new business Social Tip, which promises influencer-style payouts for people who promote brands on social media. 

It has paid £500,000 to its 100,000 users since its launch last year – equivalent to £5 per user.