marston disambiguation . marston s plc type public traded as lse mars industry brewing pubs founded 1834 1 founder john marston 1 headquarters wolverhampton west midlands uk key people roger devlin chairman ralph findlay ceo 2 products beer revenue 845.5 million 2015 2 operating income 165.4 million 2015 2 net income 23.3 million 2015 2 number of employees 13 100 2015 2 website www.marstons.co.uk marston s is a british brewery and pub operator . it operates over 1 700 pubs in the uk 3 and is the world s largest brewer of cask ale . 4 90 per cent of profits come from the pubs division . it was known as wolverhampton and dudley breweries plc until 2007 when it rebranded as marston s. it owns five breweries and brands including marston s banks s jennings ringwood and wychwood . its priority products are marston s pedigree and wychwood hobgoblin . contents 1 history 2 operations 3 brewing methods 4 beers 5 sponsorship 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit in 1834 john marston established j. marston & son at the horninglow brewery at burton upon trent . 1 by 1861 the brewery produced 3 000 barrels a year . 5 in 1890 marston & son ltd was registered as a limited liability company . 5 in 1898 marston s amalgamated with john thompson & son ltd and moved to albion brewery on shobnall road which the company still operates . 1 by this time the brewery had a capacity of 100 000 barrels a year . 5 it was at this time that the burton union system began to be used . 1 in 1905 the company merged with sydney evershed to form marston thompson & evershed . 1 banks & co has been brewing at the park brewery in wolverhampton since 1875 . 6 in 1890 banks became wolverhampton & dudley breweries when the company amalgamated with george thompson & sons and charles colonel smith s brewery . 7 in 1943 wolverhampton & dudley breweries took over julia hanson & sons with 200 pubs . 8 it was first listed on the london stock exchange in 1947 . 7 it acquired camerons brewery in hartlepool in 1992 7 and sold it to castle eden in 2002 whilst retaining some of cameron s tied pubs . 9 in 1999 wolverhampton & dudley breweries purchased marston thompson & evershed and in the same year took over the mansfield brewery of nottinghamshire and closed it down transferring production of mansfield beers to the park brewery . 10 in 2005 marston s brewery took over production under licence from interbrew of draught bass succeeding coors . later in 2005 the jennings brewery of cockermouth was purchased and in 2007 hampshire based ringwood brewery which was established in 1978 and brews best bitter fortyniner and old thumper was acquired . 11 in 2007 the company changed its name from wolverhampton & dudley breweries plc to marston s plc. 12 in late 2013 there was some controversy when it was announced that marstons would sell some 200 pubs to new company new river retail . the fear was that many would close and be turned into convenience stores . 13 in 2014 the company took over production of most thwaites beers after the closure of the latter s main brewery . on 31 march 2015 it was announced the company was buying the bulk of thwaites beer supply business outright and the top two brands wainwright and lancaster bomber for around 25m . 14 operations edit the marston s brewery in burton upon trent 2009 the company now owns and operates five breweries the park brewery in wolverhampton brews banks s and mansfield beers plus most thwaites beers under contract the marston s brewery in burton upon trent brews marston s and bass ; the jennings brewery in cockermouth ; 15 the wychwood brewery in witney which includes the brakspear brewhouse ; the ringwood brewery in ringwood hampshire . the company operates over 1 700 pubs and bars situated across england and wales comprising around 300 tenanted and 500 leased pubs plus operating a hotel chain . 16 brewing methods edit marston s is the only remaining brewer to use burton union sets ; a system whereby fermentation barrels and troughs are linked together by pipework . 17 the basic principle is one of preventing excessive beer and yeast loss through foaming but the consequence is that the beer is in contact with more wood and with more beer fermenting in a bigger volume typically totalling about 100 barrels or 16 hectolitres . that results in a more consistent flavour and very little chance of a whole batch being ruined . all other large scale brewers have abandoned that method in favour of stainless steel fermenting vessels which while they assure through volume a consistent flavour limit the use of traditional yeast varieties . they make selective use of the unusual double dropping process for example in the production of brakspear bitter 18 which introduces complex flavours by a period of accelerated yeast growth . 19 beers edit the marston s arena at northwich victoria f.c. the main beers are wainwright marston s pedigree and epa wychwood hobgoblin jennings cumberland ale and banks s bitter and mild . despite a general uk wide decline in the popularity of mild ales banks s mild still outsells its stablemate bitter in the west midlands market and is the best selling mild ale in the world . 20 the company also owns sunbeam a blonde beer which is brewed and distributed from the banks s brewery based in wolverhampton . sunbeam was first produced in 2011 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of wolverhampton achieving city status . 21 half of all its beer is bottled . 22 marston s brews draught bass for a b inbev and tetley bitter mild and dark mild for carlsberg . 23 marston s pedigree is a 4.5 % abv bitter . 1 introduced in 1952 it is marston s flagship brand selling 150 000 hectolitres in 2010 . 1 it is the only beer to use the oak burton union system so that it is fermented in wood ; the ingredients are mineral enriched burton water malted barley and fuggles and goldings hops . 1 wainwright is the company s best selling beer and is brewed at the banks brewery in wolverhampton . it is a 4.1 % abv golden ale named in honour of the famous fell walker and author alfred wainwright . marston s acquired the brand from thwaites in 2015 . in 2016 the thwaites branding was dropped and the beer was rebranded the golden beer to appeal to non ale drinkers . 24 sponsorship edit england and wales cricket board marston s pedigree is the official beer of the england cricket team from 2007 through to 2017 . 25 marston s is the official supplier of beer at all home test matches and has exclusive beer advertising rights . 25 see also edit brewers of burton references edit a b c d e f g h i oliver garrett 2011 . the oxford companion to beer . oxford university press . p. 573 . isbn 978 0 19 536713 3 . a b c d e annual report 2015 . marston s. retrieved 10 april 2016 . pubs . marstons.co.uk . marston s plc . marstons.co.uk . retrieved 30 march 2015 . a b c lesley richmond ; alison turton 1990 . the brewing industry a guide to historical records . manchester university press . p. 228 . isbn 978 0 7190 3032 1 . marston s banks s archived april 13 2011 at the wayback machine . a b c marston s history & heritage hanson s a strong link with the past . 19 april 2007 . retrieved 22 march 2014 . end of an era at castle eden northern echo 15 july 2002 history & heritage marston s plc camra fears domino effect following purchase of ringwood by marston s archived august 3 2007 at the wayback machine . marston s change of name newriver retail swallows 200 pubs to turn into convenience stores . proactiveinvestors uk . 28 november 2013 . retrieved 31 january 2016 . marston s buys thwaites brewing arm in 25.1 m deal . bbc news . retrieved 31 january 2016 . marston s about us archived october 23 2008 at the wayback machine . our pubs marston s plc . marstons.co.uk . retrieved 30 march 2015 . hornsey ian spencer 1999 . brewing . royal society of chemistry . p. 127 . isbn 978 0 85404 568 6 . asserted on label burton union sets archived october 29 2013 at the wayback machine . why mild ale is enjoying a revival express & star . expressandstar.com . retrieved 30 march 2015 . marston s owned banks s brewery to bring back sunbeam for summer 2012 . the caterer . 21 march 2012 . retrieved 10 april 2016 . marston s unveil new 7.4 m bottling line . burton mail . retrieved 30 march 2015 . camra good beer guide ; 2010 http www.expressandstar.com business business picks 2015 03 31 marstons in 25m swoop for thwaites brewing business a b marston s renews as official beer of england cricket team . sportspromedia.com . retrieved 30 march 2015 . external links edit marston s brewery website v t e ftse 100 ftse 250 companies of the united kingdom 3i infrastructure aa aberdeen asset management aberforth smaller companies trust acacia mining aggreko aldermore group alliance trust allied minds amec foster wheeler ao world ascential ashmore group assura atkins auto trader group aveva balfour beatty bankers investment trust barr a.g. bba aviation beazley group bellway berendsen berkeley group holdings bank of georgia bh macro big yellow group b & m european retail value bodycote booker group bovis homes group brewin dolphin holdings british empire trust britvic brown n. btg plc cairn energy caledonia investments capital & counties properties card factory carillion centamin cineworld city of london investment trust clarkson close brothers group cls holdings cmc markets cobham computacenter countryside properties countrywide cranswick crest nicholson cybg daejan holdings dairy crest debenhams dechra pharmaceuticals derwent london dfs dignity diploma domino s pizza drax group dunelm group edinburgh investment trust electra private equity electrocomponents elementis entertainment one essentra esure euromoney institutional investor evraz f & c commercial property trust fidelity china special situations fidelity european values fidessa group finsbury growth & income trust firstgroup fisher james & sons foreign & colonial investment trust g4s galliford try gcp infrastructure investments genesis emerging markets fund genus go ahead group grafton group grainger great portland estates greencoat uk wind greencore greene king greggs gvc holdings halfords group halma hansteen holdings harbourvest global private equity hastings group hays henderson group hicl infrastructure company hill & smith hiscox hochschild mining homeserve howdens joinery hunting ibstock icap ig group holdings imi inchcape indivior inmarsat intermediate capital group international personal finance international public partnerships investec ip group jardine lloyd thompson jd sports john laing group john laing infrastructure fund jpmorgan american investment trust jpmorgan emerging markets investment trust jpmorgan indian investment trust jrp group jupiter fund management just eat kaz minerals keller kennedy wilson europe real estate kier group ladbrokes laird lancashire holdings londonmetric property man group marshalls marston s mccarthy & stone meggitt mercantile investment trust metro bank millennium & copthorne hotels mitchells & butlers mitie moneysupermarket.com group monks investment trust morgan advanced materials murray international trust national express group nb global ncc nmc health ocado group onesavings bank p2p global investments pagegroup paragon group of companies paypoint paysafe pennon group perpetual income & growth investment trust personal assets trust petrofac pets at home phoenix group holdings playtech polar capital technology trust polypipe premier farnell pz cussons qinetiq rank group rathbone brothers redefine international redrow regus group renewables infrastructure group renishaw rentokil initial restaurant group rightmove rit capital partners