Boddingtons
Encyclopedia
Boddingtons Bitter is a bitter
ale
originally brewed at the Strangeways Brewery
, Manchester
, England. It was promoted as The Cream of Manchester from the late 1980s until 2004, when the Strangeways brewery was closed and production moved to Magor
, South Wales and Salmesbury, Lancashire. Cask conditioned Boddingtons is currently brewed under licence by Hydes Brewery in Moss Side
, Manchester.
The beer had been in a state of decline until it was purchased by Whitbread
in 1989 who increased the marketing budget and extended distribution nationwide. Market share for the beer peaked in 1999. It is currently owned by Anheuser–Busch InBev
who purchased the Whitbread Beer Company in 2000.
Strangeways Brewery
was founded by two grain merchants, Thomas Caister and Thomas Fry, in 1778 just north of Manchester city centre
. Cotton workers were their principal customers. Henry Boddington was born in 1813 in Thame
, Oxfordshire
to a Calvinist family. When Boddington joined the brewery in 1832 as a commercial traveller, the brewery was owned by Hole, Potter, and Harrison. Like most Manchester breweries at the time, it was a very small operation. On 8 July 1847 he married Martha, the daughter of a dyer and banker from Salford
. By 1848 Boddington had risen to partner in the company. In 1853 he borrowed money to become the sole owner of the enterprise. By the early 1860s output had reached nearly 17,000 barrels a year, rising to 50,000 by 1874. By 1877, Boddingtons was brewing around 100,000 barrels of beer a year, making it not only Manchester's largest brewer, but one of the largest in the North of England. In 1883, Henry Boddington & Co Ltd was registered as a limited liability company
. When Henry Boddington died in 1886 the value of his estate was almost £150,000.
By 1892 the company owned 212 public houses. The family retained an association with the firm; Henry's youngest son, Robert Slater Boddington (1862–1930) had a fifty year association with the company, acting as chairman from 1908 until his death in 1930. Robert's third and fourth sons Philip (1893–1952) and Charles (1897–1982) both served as joint chairman of the firm after their father's death, with Charles taking sole responsibility after Philip's death. In 1970 Philip retired, and Ewart Boddington assumed the head of the company.
for £23 million. After the acquisition, the company owned 272 public houses, 70% of which were within 20 miles of its Manchester brewery. In 1986 the company employed 280 people and operated 530 tied house
s, and the Strangeways brewery had a capacity of 500,000 barrels a year. Boddingtons remained independent until November 1989, when the last chairman Ewart Boddington sold the Strangeways brewery and the Boddingtons brand to Whitbread
for £50.7 million. Whitbread were motivated by the possibility of plugging a gap in their portfolio by owning a credible national cask ale brand. The beer had a strong reputation among beer aficionados, with Roger Protz
commenting: "When I first encountered Boddington’s Bitter in a pub in Hyde near Manchester, I refused to leave. I didn’t know that beer could taste quite that good." The sale was an amicable one, with both parties aware that Whitbread capital and distribution could make the Boddingtons brand a national one. Boddingtons had been in a state of decline prior to the Whitbread takeover, although it retained an almost 'cult' following within its Manchester area heartland.
". Manchester and the North of England were now, in the public consciousness, rejuvenated from industrial slump and irrevocably trendy. Jarvis commented in 1995 that:
From September 1998, Whitbread began brewing Boddingtons with hop extracts instead of hops
as a cost saving measure. In 1999, Boddingtons market share for the brand peaked. The success was attributed to an excellent marketing campaign, and being the first canned ale to be sold with a widget
. after Guinness Bitter.
. In that same year, one in eight barrels of Boddingtons was exported to some 40 countries worldwide, including China, The United States, Taiwan and the West Indies. In 2001, the brand accounted for a 44% share of the off-trade ale market. Since this peak however InBev
has been accused of neglecting the brand. In 2003, a product relaunch saw extra malt
added to the Boddingtons recipe.
In September 2004, InBev
announced plans to close the Strangeways brewery and move most production from Manchester to Magor
in South Wales
and Salmesbury, Lancashire
, with the loss of 60 jobs. Only the brewing of Boddingtons cask ale
would remain in the city, being moved to Hydes Brewery in Moss Side
. The closure plan came despite Interbrew admitting that the brewery was profitable. A spokesman for the firm argued: "[The] building was built in the Victorian times
and it is an old historic brewery but it was a victim of its age. It is an inflexible brewery - it can't bottle or can and customer needs have moved on".
Production at the brewery ended in February 2005 and it was demolished in 2007.
In May 2010, it was speculated by The Times
that InBev would attempt to sell the Boddingtons brand to another brewer, following their failed attempt to sell the UK rights to Bass ale. The newspaper was damning of what they perceived as InBev's mismanagement of the brand: "Boddingtons...has declined under AB InBev’s hands. The brand was once a leading part of the old Whitbread Beer Company, but its fortunes have dwindled since the closure in 2005 of the Strangeways brewery."
Pete Brown
has commented that the beer "used to be great" but had been "quite deliberately run...into the ground, [with InBev] withdrawing all marketing support [and openly admitting that] they are completely uninterested in ale." As of 2010, it is the 6th most popular bitter in the United Kingdom
, although sales have dropped by almost three quarters since the takeover by Anheuser–Busch InBev
in 2000. It is still sold in over 30 countries worldwide.
television in the North West of England from 1987 onwards with the tagline was "If you don't get Boddies, you'll just get bitter". Under Whitbread's custodianship, Frankie Howerd
was enlisted to appear in a series of six early 1990s television advertisements for the brand.
From 1990 until 1999 there was a long running set of advertisements with The Cream of Manchester tagline, beginning with a local area print campaign, which was later extended nationally in 1992. The television advertisements all featured beautiful women with Northern accents. A then unknown Melanie Sykes
achieved fame through her appearances in the adverts from 1996 until 1999. The series won a number of international advertising awards for their creator, Bartle Bogle Hegarty
. The brand's creaminess was emphasised through face cream, ice cream, sun cream and whipped cream. Managing director of Whitbread, Miles Templeman, has explained that:
In 1998, Boddingtons figured prominently in a Series 5 episode of the popular television show Friends
, "The One with All the Kissing". Joey and Ross discuss how much they had enjoyed Boddingtons in London
. Joey claims "I'd walk back to London for another frosty one of those bad boys." Animated television advertisements starring Graham the Cow ran from summer 1999 until 2002 with the tagline Chilled Cream. The adverts attracted complaints from viewers for allegedly promoting bestiality, homosexuality and drug-taking.
Later adverts in 2002 returned to glamorous women, with the tagline: "Boddingtons - it's a bit gorgeous." These were not successful however, and The Independent
called it out as bad advertising. 2002 also saw Boddingtons' become an official partner of the XVII Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in a deal worth at least £1 million. To mark the occasion a special Boddingtons 5% ABV Commonwealth Ale was produced. 2003 saw £1 million spent for Boddingtons to sponsor the popular television programme Reborn in the USA
.
A 2004 campaign starring Alison King
saw four men attempt to smuggle Boddingtons out of a club. It ran regionally on ITV and Channel 4 in northern, Central
and HTV
regions, and nationally on Five and satellite
. The last Boddingtons television campaign was in 2005. It was criticised for capitalising on its Manchester heritage with a Happy Mondays
soundtrack, even though production had moved out of the city. Mike Thompson, a former worker at the brewery and representative of the Transport & General Workers' Union, said:
Bitter (beer)
Bitter is an English term for pale ale. Bitters vary in colour from gold to dark amber and in strength from 3% to 7% alcohol by volume.-Brief history:...
ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
originally brewed at the Strangeways Brewery
Strangeways Brewery
Strangeways Brewery was a landmark in Manchester, England. Located just north of the city centre, it was famous as the home of Boddingtons Bitter. It closed in 2006 and was demolished in 2007.-History:...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England. It was promoted as The Cream of Manchester from the late 1980s until 2004, when the Strangeways brewery was closed and production moved to Magor
Magor, Monmouthshire
Magor - meaning 'a wall' - is a large village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, between Chepstow and the city of Newport, and adjoining the Caldicot Levels beside the Severn estuary. Magor lies close to the M4 motorway, which has a nearby motorway service area sharing its name...
, South Wales and Salmesbury, Lancashire. Cask conditioned Boddingtons is currently brewed under licence by Hydes Brewery in Moss Side
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre and has a population of around 17,537...
, Manchester.
The beer had been in a state of decline until it was purchased by Whitbread
Whitbread
Whitbread PLC is a global hotel, coffee shop and restaurant company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom. Its largest division is Premier Inn, which is the largest hotel brand in the UK with around 580 hotels and over 40,000 rooms. Its Costa Coffee chain has around 1,600 stores across 25...
in 1989 who increased the marketing budget and extended distribution nationwide. Market share for the beer peaked in 1999. It is currently owned by Anheuser–Busch InBev
Anheuser–Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
who purchased the Whitbread Beer Company in 2000.
Local success story
Strangeways Brewery
Strangeways Brewery was a landmark in Manchester, England. Located just north of the city centre, it was famous as the home of Boddingtons Bitter. It closed in 2006 and was demolished in 2007.-History:...
was founded by two grain merchants, Thomas Caister and Thomas Fry, in 1778 just north of Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre
Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
. Cotton workers were their principal customers. Henry Boddington was born in 1813 in Thame
Thame
Thame is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about southwest of the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury. It derives its toponym from the River Thame which flows past the north side of the town....
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
to a Calvinist family. When Boddington joined the brewery in 1832 as a commercial traveller, the brewery was owned by Hole, Potter, and Harrison. Like most Manchester breweries at the time, it was a very small operation. On 8 July 1847 he married Martha, the daughter of a dyer and banker from Salford
City of Salford
The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Salford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton-Pendlebury, Walkden and Irlam which apart from Irlam each have a population of over...
. By 1848 Boddington had risen to partner in the company. In 1853 he borrowed money to become the sole owner of the enterprise. By the early 1860s output had reached nearly 17,000 barrels a year, rising to 50,000 by 1874. By 1877, Boddingtons was brewing around 100,000 barrels of beer a year, making it not only Manchester's largest brewer, but one of the largest in the North of England. In 1883, Henry Boddington & Co Ltd was registered as a limited liability company
Limited liability company
A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...
. When Henry Boddington died in 1886 the value of his estate was almost £150,000.
By 1892 the company owned 212 public houses. The family retained an association with the firm; Henry's youngest son, Robert Slater Boddington (1862–1930) had a fifty year association with the company, acting as chairman from 1908 until his death in 1930. Robert's third and fourth sons Philip (1893–1952) and Charles (1897–1982) both served as joint chairman of the firm after their father's death, with Charles taking sole responsibility after Philip's death. In 1970 Philip retired, and Ewart Boddington assumed the head of the company.
Later stagnation
In the early 1970s the famous Boddingtons logo was introduced, depicting a barrel and two bees. The bee is the symbol of Manchester, from the time when it was "the hive of industry". In January 1982 it purchased the Oldham BreweryOldham Brewery
Oldham Brewery Ltd was an English brewery based in Oldham Lancashire. It was founded in 1868.- History :The Brewery was built close to the town centre by the Stott family of architects.- Beers :...
for £23 million. After the acquisition, the company owned 272 public houses, 70% of which were within 20 miles of its Manchester brewery. In 1986 the company employed 280 people and operated 530 tied house
Tied house
In the UK a tied house is a public house that is required to buy at least some of its beer from a particular brewery. This is in contrast to a free house, which is able to choose the beers it stocks freely.- Definition of "tied" :...
s, and the Strangeways brewery had a capacity of 500,000 barrels a year. Boddingtons remained independent until November 1989, when the last chairman Ewart Boddington sold the Strangeways brewery and the Boddingtons brand to Whitbread
Whitbread
Whitbread PLC is a global hotel, coffee shop and restaurant company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom. Its largest division is Premier Inn, which is the largest hotel brand in the UK with around 580 hotels and over 40,000 rooms. Its Costa Coffee chain has around 1,600 stores across 25...
for £50.7 million. Whitbread were motivated by the possibility of plugging a gap in their portfolio by owning a credible national cask ale brand. The beer had a strong reputation among beer aficionados, with Roger Protz
Roger Protz
Roger Protz is a British writer, journalist and campaigner. He was an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale in 1971, and has written several books on beer and pubs...
commenting: "When I first encountered Boddington’s Bitter in a pub in Hyde near Manchester, I refused to leave. I didn’t know that beer could taste quite that good." The sale was an amicable one, with both parties aware that Whitbread capital and distribution could make the Boddingtons brand a national one. Boddingtons had been in a state of decline prior to the Whitbread takeover, although it retained an almost 'cult' following within its Manchester area heartland.
National distribution with Whitbread
Whitbread transformed the brand from a regional one to a national one. From 200,000 barrels a year in 1989, Whitbread had doubled production by 1992, and tripled the original figure by 1994 to 600,000 barrels a year, further rising to 850,000 by 1995, as well as imbuing the beer with the status of best selling canned bitter in the UK throughout the 1990s. The beer began to be exported overseas in 1993. The extraordinary rise of the beer coincided with the elevation of Manchester from "city of dark, beaten mills to the cultural magnet of MadchesterMadchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
". Manchester and the North of England were now, in the public consciousness, rejuvenated from industrial slump and irrevocably trendy. Jarvis commented in 1995 that:
- "It was very fortuitous that the brewery was in Manchester. To outsiders, Manchester is a very attractive place - known the world over for soccer, art, music and broadcasting. It would be difficult to have a Cream of WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
even though Banks's beer is very good. People do not aspire to visit Wolverhampton. On the whole they try to by- pass it."
From September 1998, Whitbread began brewing Boddingtons with hop extracts instead of hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
as a cost saving measure. In 1999, Boddingtons market share for the brand peaked. The success was attributed to an excellent marketing campaign, and being the first canned ale to be sold with a widget
Widget (beer)
A widget is a device placed in a container of beer to manage the characteristics of the beer's head. The original widget was patented in Ireland by Guinness. The "floating widget" is found in cans of beer as a hollow plastic sphere, 3 cm in diameter with a small hole in one side...
. after Guinness Bitter.
Decline under InBev
In May 2000, the Whitbread Beer Company was acquired by InterbrewInterbrew
Interbrew was a large Belgium-based brewing company which owned many internationally known beers, as well as some smaller local beers. In 2004 Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which is the now largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share now...
. In that same year, one in eight barrels of Boddingtons was exported to some 40 countries worldwide, including China, The United States, Taiwan and the West Indies. In 2001, the brand accounted for a 44% share of the off-trade ale market. Since this peak however InBev
InBev
InBev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. The company existed independently for several years - since the merger between Interbrew and AmBev and until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. InBev has operations in over 30 countries and sales in over 130 countries...
has been accused of neglecting the brand. In 2003, a product relaunch saw extra malt
Malt
Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air...
added to the Boddingtons recipe.
In September 2004, InBev
Interbrew
Interbrew was a large Belgium-based brewing company which owned many internationally known beers, as well as some smaller local beers. In 2004 Interbrew merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev to form InBev, which is the now largest brewer in the world by volume, with a 13% global market share now...
announced plans to close the Strangeways brewery and move most production from Manchester to Magor
Magor, Monmouthshire
Magor - meaning 'a wall' - is a large village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, between Chepstow and the city of Newport, and adjoining the Caldicot Levels beside the Severn estuary. Magor lies close to the M4 motorway, which has a nearby motorway service area sharing its name...
in South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
and Salmesbury, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, with the loss of 60 jobs. Only the brewing of Boddingtons cask ale
Cask ale
Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure...
would remain in the city, being moved to Hydes Brewery in Moss Side
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre and has a population of around 17,537...
. The closure plan came despite Interbrew admitting that the brewery was profitable. A spokesman for the firm argued: "[The] building was built in the Victorian times
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and it is an old historic brewery but it was a victim of its age. It is an inflexible brewery - it can't bottle or can and customer needs have moved on".
Production at the brewery ended in February 2005 and it was demolished in 2007.
In May 2010, it was speculated by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
that InBev would attempt to sell the Boddingtons brand to another brewer, following their failed attempt to sell the UK rights to Bass ale. The newspaper was damning of what they perceived as InBev's mismanagement of the brand: "Boddingtons...has declined under AB InBev’s hands. The brand was once a leading part of the old Whitbread Beer Company, but its fortunes have dwindled since the closure in 2005 of the Strangeways brewery."
Pete Brown
Pete Brown (writer)
Pete Brown is an English writer who has written extensively on the subject of beer and drinking cultures around the world. He has written three books; Man Walks Into a Pub, Three Sheets to the Wind, and Hops and Glory. Brown was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire and now lives in...
has commented that the beer "used to be great" but had been "quite deliberately run...into the ground, [with InBev] withdrawing all marketing support [and openly admitting that] they are completely uninterested in ale." As of 2010, it is the 6th most popular bitter in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, although sales have dropped by almost three quarters since the takeover by Anheuser–Busch InBev
Anheuser–Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. is a Belgian-Brazilian publicly-traded company, based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest global brewer with nearly 25% global market share and one of the world's top five consumer products companies by EBITA....
in 2000. It is still sold in over 30 countries worldwide.
Current products
- Boddingtons Cask (3.8% ABVAlcohol by volumeAlcohol by volume is a standard measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage .The ABV standard is used worldwide....
)
- The original cask conditioned variant. It accounts for around 10% of all Boddingtons sold. It is rarely seen outside the beer's North West of England heartland. Contract brewed for AB InBev by HydesHydesHydes is a family-owned and -managed brewery in Moss Side, Manchester. They have been brewing real ale on the same site since 1899. They own over 80 managed and tenanted pubs, mainly in North West England, but also in North Wales.-Regular beers:...
. In 2003 InBev raised the ABV to 4.1%; following a disastrous sales slump that saw Boddingtons' share of the cask-ale market drop a full 32% in the 12 months up to July 2002 when barrelage slumped from 9.1% to 6.9% of the 3.2m-barrel UK cask-ale market. It's strength has since been reverted. It's volumes are currently around 65,000 barrels.- Boddingtons Draughtflow (3.5% ABV)
- The most popular variant of the beer. A bitterBitter (beer)Bitter is an English term for pale ale. Bitters vary in colour from gold to dark amber and in strength from 3% to 7% alcohol by volume.-Brief history:...
available in cans and kegsKEGSKEGS may refer to:* King Edward's School, or King Edward's Grammar School** King Edward VI Aston, also known as KEGS Aston** King Edward VI Camp Hill, also known as KEGS Camp Hill** King Edward VI Grammar School , also known as KEGS Chelmsford...
. The canned variant, launched in 1991, contains a widgetWidget (beer)A widget is a device placed in a container of beer to manage the characteristics of the beer's head. The original widget was patented in Ireland by Guinness. The "floating widget" is found in cans of beer as a hollow plastic sphere, 3 cm in diameter with a small hole in one side...
. It is brewed in Salmesbury and MagorMagor, MonmouthshireMagor - meaning 'a wall' - is a large village in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, between Chepstow and the city of Newport, and adjoining the Caldicot Levels beside the Severn estuary. Magor lies close to the M4 motorway, which has a nearby motorway service area sharing its name...
. On draught, an Extra Cold variant was launched in 2006. The ABV was reduced from 3.8% to 3.5% in late 2008. Served at 10-12 Celsius.- Boddingtons Pub Ale (4.7% ABV)
- Predominantly brewed for export markets, such as the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where it has been available since 1994. The UK version, launched in summer 1995, came in 330ml bottles and was known as Boddingtons Export. However, bad marketing was blamed for poor sales,and it was discontinued in mid-1996.
Discontinued products
- Boddingtons Manchester Gold (4.8% ABV)
- Launched in 1996 to replace Export and discontinued around 2001. It was a hybrid ale (an ale designed to be served as cold as a lagerLagerLager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
, following the likes of Caffrey's which was popular at the time. It came in a distinctive black and gold can as well as kegs. Launched with a £4 million advertising campaign with the tagline "Strong and smooth from Boddingtons". It was priced at a 15 per cent premium to regular Boddingtons.- Boddingtons Original (3.5% ABV)
- A canned version of regular Boddingtons without a widget. It came in a brown can. It was particularly popular in the North West of England. Sometimes known as Boddingtons Strangeways Bitter. It seems to have been discontinued sometime around 2008.
- Boddingtons Mild (3.1 to 3.3% ABV)
- The cask conditioned product was discontinued in 1999. It was described as a thin, dark mild with a sweet caramel and maltMaltMalt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air...
flavour, and a short aftertaste.
Advertising
Boddingtons began to be advertised on GranadaGranada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
television in the North West of England from 1987 onwards with the tagline was "If you don't get Boddies, you'll just get bitter". Under Whitbread's custodianship, Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
was enlisted to appear in a series of six early 1990s television advertisements for the brand.
From 1990 until 1999 there was a long running set of advertisements with The Cream of Manchester tagline, beginning with a local area print campaign, which was later extended nationally in 1992. The television advertisements all featured beautiful women with Northern accents. A then unknown Melanie Sykes
Melanie Sykes
Melanie Ann Sykes is an English television presenter and model.-Career:Melanie Sykes was born to an English father, and an Anglo-Indian mother. She first came to public attention as the bikini-clad girl in the Boddingtons beer advertisements with the broad "Northern" accent in the mid-1990s...
achieved fame through her appearances in the adverts from 1996 until 1999. The series won a number of international advertising awards for their creator, Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Bartle Bogle Hegarty is a British advertising agency, responsible for some notable advertising campaigns of the last 30 years. The company was founded by John Bartle, Nigel Bogle & Sir John Hegarty in 1982. Sir John Hegarty and Nigel Bogle still lead it today, together with worldwide CEO Simon...
. The brand's creaminess was emphasised through face cream, ice cream, sun cream and whipped cream. Managing director of Whitbread, Miles Templeman, has explained that:
- We were thinking how to turn a second-rate north-west brand into something more stylish, to make it more appealing again. BBH thought of focusing on the creamy aspect, of selling a beer like a face cream.
In 1998, Boddingtons figured prominently in a Series 5 episode of the popular television show Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, "The One with All the Kissing". Joey and Ross discuss how much they had enjoyed Boddingtons in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Joey claims "I'd walk back to London for another frosty one of those bad boys." Animated television advertisements starring Graham the Cow ran from summer 1999 until 2002 with the tagline Chilled Cream. The adverts attracted complaints from viewers for allegedly promoting bestiality, homosexuality and drug-taking.
Later adverts in 2002 returned to glamorous women, with the tagline: "Boddingtons - it's a bit gorgeous." These were not successful however, and The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
called it out as bad advertising. 2002 also saw Boddingtons' become an official partner of the XVII Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in a deal worth at least £1 million. To mark the occasion a special Boddingtons 5% ABV Commonwealth Ale was produced. 2003 saw £1 million spent for Boddingtons to sponsor the popular television programme Reborn in the USA
Reborn in the USA
Reborn in the USA was a 2003 ITV reality TV show, in which ten former British pop acts were transported to the USA, where they were supposedly not known , in the...
.
A 2004 campaign starring Alison King
Alison King
Alison King is an English actress. She has had major television roles as Lynda Block in the Sky One television series Dream Team, and as Carla Connor in Coronation Street since 2006.- Early life and education :...
saw four men attempt to smuggle Boddingtons out of a club. It ran regionally on ITV and Channel 4 in northern, Central
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
and HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
regions, and nationally on Five and satellite
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
. The last Boddingtons television campaign was in 2005. It was criticised for capitalising on its Manchester heritage with a Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
soundtrack, even though production had moved out of the city. Mike Thompson, a former worker at the brewery and representative of the Transport & General Workers' Union, said:
- This is at best cynical and at worst a slur on our great city, its heritage and the Boddingtons workers. People have lost their livelihoods because of how this company has behaved. They will not be best pleased at what we can only see as pouring salt on the wounds.