 Whitbread bought Boddingtons Brewery in 1989 and Boddingtons Bitter received an increased marketing budget and nationwide distribution . Boddingtons achieved its peak market share in 1997 and at the time was exported to over forty countries . Boddingtons beer brands are now owned by the global brewer Anheuser – Busch InBev which acquired the Whitbread Beer Company in 2000 . Strangeways Brewery closed in 2004 and production of pasteurised ( keg and can ) Boddingtons was moved to Samlesbury in Lancashire . Production of the cask conditioned beer moved to Hydes Brewery in Moss Side , Manchester , until it was discontinued in 2012 , ending the beer 's association with the city . 
