Success was attributed to an excellent marketing campaign, and being the first canned ale to be sold with a widget after Guinness. [46] In 1997 Boddingtons sales peaked, and 1998 saw a drop in sales of 10per cent. [53] Boddingtons had been turned into: "a fashion product... and as with all fashion products, the drinkers moved on". [54] In 1998 production of the Flowers ale brands was moved to Strangeways. [55] Boddingtons' share of the UK ale market grew to 4.9 per cent in 1998–1999, and sales grew by 7.3 percent during 1999–2000. [56] [57]

TV commercials for Boddingtons Bitter feature Frankie Howerd". The Grocer. Wiliam Reed. 10 November 1990. what has stood Boddingtons in good stead is the highly distinctive flavour of its brews, especially its bitters. In fact, in the North-West, Boddies is increasingly becoming a sort of cult brew. [30]

By ‘eck, it’s gorgeous!

Godsell, Melanie (28 March 2007). "Boddingtons plans revamp". Marketing Magazine. Haymarket Business Publications. p.10 . Retrieved 7 May 2011. In May 2000 the Whitbread Beer Company was acquired by the Belgian brewer Interbrew, which owned Stella Artois. At that time over ten percent of Boddingtons production was exported to some 40 countries worldwide, including China, the United States, Taiwan and the West Indies. [58] The Strangeways Brewery kegging facility closed in February 2003 with the loss of 50 jobs. [59] In August 2003, amidst falling sales, Interbrew relaunched the cask product in the North West of England, with an increased strength. [60] The relaunch was unsuccessful and the changes were reversed. In 1969, an attempted hostile takeover of the company took place, with Allied Breweries trying to force out the family and strip away its independence. Jacobson, Michael (1978). 200 Years of Beer: The Story of Boddingtons Strangeways Brewery, 1778–1978. Manchester: Boddington Breweries Ltd.

Whitbread's widget targets bottled ales". The Grocer. William Reed. 8 April 1995 . Retrieved 7 May 2011. In 2010, Boddingtons was the sixth-highest selling bitter in the United Kingdom, although sales had dropped by almost three-quarters since the takeover by Anheuser–Busch InBev in 2000. [35] In 2011, AB InBev's UK president Stuart MacFarlane claimed "We still believe in the brand", whilst admitting to not advertising the brand for five years, instead reaping the rewards of memories of earlier advertising. [36] Contract brewing of Boddingtons Cask continued until 2012 when production of the beer ended. [37] As workplaces grew in the city, the desire for a nice place for a swift pint after work became huge. Hundreds of small brewers began setting up shop, including Strangeways Brewery. Benady, David (24 May 1996). "Boddington's Export to be axed after poor sales". Marketing Week . Retrieved 7 May 2011.

Ordsall Hall

By the turn of the century Boddingtons owned over 200 public houses making it the 12th largest tied estate in the UK. Things were going well. The same set played week-in, week-out as you started the night with The Charlatans and ended it jumping and shaking your head around to Faithless. Fifth Ave held epic foam parties that would get very messy. Louise remembers how the ‘bank holiday foam parties were brilliant’. Fifth Avenue / Facebook M-Two

In 2019, Stuart Jeffries, for The Guardian wrote that ‘There is a possibility that ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s Cream of Manchester ad campaign, which ran from 1991 until 1999, is responsible for the transformation of that city’. I’m surprised by those GBG entries. I was drinking Anvil in 1984, and at that point it was definitely (a) Hyde’s standard bitter & (b) sour and yellow. Can we call Tand from the vasty deep?

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Boddingtons has a distinctive straw-golden coloured body with a creamy white head, which in its modern form is achieved by the addition of nitrogen in an attempt to replicate the traditional head from serving the cask beer through a sparkler. It was during the Whitbread Era that Boddingtons truly became a national and international brand, as they aggressively increased production and exported the beer all around the world.