Tilray pledges more than £50m for BrewDog beer, pubs and working conditions

Tilray said on Tuesday, 29 September, that it was investing more than £50m in BrewDog’s beer, pubs and working conditions in the UK, seven months after buying the brewer out of administration. Chief executive Irwin Simon asked customers to give the brand ‘a second chance’. The commitment matters to staff, suppliers and drinkers because the March collapse closed dozens of bars and left creditors facing substantial losses.

The company has described work on brewing quality, new beers and selected pub reopenings. The cited statements do not itemise the more than £50m by project or give a timetable for spending it. Simon’s plans therefore describe a proposed turnaround, rather than results that can yet be measured against the full investment pledge.

What Tilray says it will change at BrewDog’s brewery

Simon told the Guardian that Tilray was investing in BrewDog’s Aberdeenshire brewery to improve the quality and reliability of existing production lines. It is also working on new beers. He said the company had discarded more than £1m worth of beer that failed to meet its quality standards, an indication of the production problems he says the investment is meant to address.

Tilray has introduced 24 American craft beers from its portfolio into BrewDog bars, according to the Guardian, and plans to make some of them at the Scottish brewery. Simon also said the group was considering purchases of other British craft beer brands. A revival of BrewDog’s closed distillery remains conditional: he said Tilray would consider it if it saw sufficient demand in the UK.

Which BrewDog pubs have reopened?

Tilray has reopened five BrewDog bars since its March purchase, the Guardian reported. Simon said he hoped to open more but would select what he called ‘A locations’. The cited reporting does not name the five reopened bars or provide dates and locations for further openings. His comments set a condition for expansion, rather than a commitment to restore the former estate.

The scale of the earlier closures gives that decision weight. The Guardian reported that the administration sale left 38 bars closed and 440 staff out of work. Tilray’s acquisition covered 11 bars, alongside the brand, intellectual property and UK breweries. The five subsequent reopenings do not reverse all of the losses associated with the collapse.

Pay promises and the cost of BrewDog’s collapse

Simon said Tilray had increased pay in 2026 and was listening to staff and customers. BrewDog’s September ownership statement also promised sensible working practices, investment in brewing communities and a renewed focus on beer quality. Neither statement in the cited material provides a budget for those commitments or measurable targets for changes in working conditions.

The promises follow years of controversy over the treatment of workers under co-founder James Watt. Some staff accused him in 2021 of fostering a toxic work culture; he apologised for some of his conduct and left BrewDog in 2024, the Guardian reported. Tilray’s commitments address a reputational problem as well as an operational one, but the available reporting does not establish how staff assess conditions under the new owner.

The March rescue did not settle the old business’s debts. The Guardian reported that administrators said creditors owed about £190m would not be repaid in full, while roughly 200,000 crowdfunding investors lost the value of their shares. The Independent separately reported that unsecured creditors were expected to receive less than a penny for each pound owed, citing the administrators’ progress report.

Employee wage arrears and accrued holiday pay were put at about £489,000 in both reports. The Guardian said affected staff had been compensated through a government redundancy payment scheme, although there were insufficient funds in the administration to reimburse the government. The Independent reported that £2.4m of VAT was owed to HMRC and that administrators blamed reduced recoveries from retail assets and higher administration costs for the shortfall to preferential creditors.

What Tilray still has to demonstrate

Simon told the Guardian that BrewDog’s annual sales were about £225m and said he believed they could return to £350m, with the business becoming profitable again. Those figures describe his assessment and ambition; the cited reporting does not show that the sales increase or profitability has been achieved. Nor does the more than £50m investment announcement specify how much is assigned to brewing equipment, pubs or staff measures.

The immediate tests are more concrete: whether brewery improvements make existing beers more reliable, whether new products reach customers, and whether reopened pubs and changes to pay and working practices endure. Tilray has announced the direction of its plans, while leaving their spending schedule and performance measures open. For former employees, investors and unpaid creditors, the new owner’s expansion plans also sit alongside losses from the prior company’s administration.