A fundamental restructure of the British brewing industry gets underway this month following the government's green light for Interbrew's sale of Carling Brewers to Coors. The sector is still led by a UK company, Scottish and Newcastle, with 28% of the market, but the next three companies are owned by the Belgians, Americans and Danes. With the addition of the Bass businesses it retained, Interbrew now has 20.6% of the market. Coors Brewers ­ the new name for Carling Brewers ­ accounts for almost the same, and Carlsberg-Tetley's share is 12%. Interbrew will begin the integration of the Bass businesses in Scotland and Ireland from Monday, when it will start managing take home orders for the Bass, Tennent's and Staropramen brands. They will continue to be distributed in Scotland by Tradeteam and in England and Wales they will be incorporated into Interbrew's supply chain. The Bass Ireland distribution is in-house. The brewer is not planning to change the names of the Scottish and Irish businesses which will continue to operate as Tennent Caledonian Breweries, Bass Ireland and Tennents Ireland. Interbrew's md Stewart Gilliland will become chief executive of Interbrew UK and Ireland. Bob Magee will remain managing director of Bass Ireland and Mike Lees will continue to be Tennent Caledonian's md. Interbrew's sales director Steve Kitching said: "The new brands are a good fit with our portfolio and the businesses give us a broader geographical spread." {{DRINKS }}

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