BrewDog Sells Kinrara Rewilding Estate After £37M Loss and Pub Closures

In a major development, the BrewDog beer company has sold its Kinrara rewilding estate in the Scottish Highlands. This comes after the company reported losses of £37 million in 2024 and announced the closure of 10 of its pubs, including its flagship outlet in Aberdeen.

BrewDog had purchased the 37 sq km Kinrara estate near Aviemore in 2020, pledging to plant millions of trees and position the business as carbon-negative or neutral. However, the project faced numerous challenges, with critics claiming the native trees were failing to grow and buildings being sold off.

Now, the Kinrara estate has been acquired by Oxygen Conservation, a company that has quickly amassed a portfolio of 12 UK estates covering over 20,000 hectares. Oxygen Conservation's chief executive, Rich Stockdale, disputes claims that the initial restoration work at Kinrara had failed, stating that his company plans to continue BrewDog's program of peatland restoration and woodland creation.

The sale of the Kinrara estate is the latest in a series of disposals by the new executive team at BrewDog, as the company seeks to address its financial woes. With the company's beer businesses recording barely any sales growth and around 2,000 pubs delisting BrewDog products, the future of the once-celebrated 'punk' beer brand remains uncertain.