Famous Oxfordshire ale is on the move following Barcelona buy-out

In a surprise move, the Old Speckled Hen brands that originated at Morland Brewery in Abingdon have been sold by Greene King to Damm UK, the British arm of Barcelona-based independent family brewer SA Damm of Estrella Damm fame.

Old Speckled Hen and its spin-off brands Old Golden Hen, Old Crafty Hen, Old Master Hen and Low Alcohol Old Speckled Hen will continue to be brewed by GK at Bury St Edmunds until June next year.

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Then they will move to Eagle brewery in Bedford, where Damm operates the former Charles Wells brewery.

Nick Mackenzie, CEO of Greene King, said: “We are proud to have built Old Speckled Hen into one of the nation’s favourite ales over the last 25 years and are delighted to have secured a partner in Estrella Damm who will continue to brew the ales in the UK.”

The former Morland brewery in Abingdon (Image: Contributed)

Pubs experts, including Dave Richardson of Oxford CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), are now assessing why Greene King decided to sell such a famous brand, having acquired it in 1999 from Morland, which it closed down the following year.

It is still widely available in GK’s Oxfordshire pubs and is one of three GK brands in the top ten cask ales by sales volume in 2025, alongside Abbot and IPA.

Greene King has now announced a new strategy to concentrate on “on trade” sales via pubs rather than “off trade” via retail or export.

It will no longer sell bottled, canned or packaged beers from next June, although Damm will continue to sell Old Speckled Hen this way. Greeene King’s new £40m brewery in Bury St Edmunds is due to open at the same time.

The Brewery Tap pub in Abingdon (Image: Contributed)

Writing in What’s Brewing, CAMRA’s Roger Protz called the move “a shock decision” resulting from the “rapacious profiteering of giant supermarkets”.

He added: “Old Speckled Hen is one of Greene King’s major brands but the income from sales to the off-trade is tiny as a result of the deep discounts demanded by the retailers.

“Greene King owns a massive estate of 2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels. It supplies those outlets with draught and packaged beers.

Old Speckled Hen beer (Image: Greene King)

Its two main cask brands, IPA and Abbot, are popular in its pubs and also in the wider on-trade, meaning free-trade pubs or those owned by other brewers or pub companies that allow their tenants to sell guest beers.”

The former Morland brewery off Ock Street in Abingdon was converted into flats.

The popular Brewery Tap pub in the street is a reminder of the town centre brewery.

Abingdon now has a micro-brewery, Loose Cannon, which is situated off Drayton Road.

Old Speckled Hen beer is named after an MG car, a 1927 black and gold factory ‘runaround’.