BrewDog is to shut 38 bars with the loss of 484 jobs after they were not included in a £33 million rescue deal by US firm Tilray, administrators for the Scottish brewer have said. Tilray, which owns a raft of craft breweries in the US, said it has bought a number of BrewDog assets including the global brand and related intellectual property, UK brewing operation and 11 of its pub venues across the UK and Ireland.

It is separately negotiating deals to buy certain BrewDog assets in the US and Australia. The Scotland-based brewer, which makes craft beer such as Punk IPA and Elvis Juice, closed its pubs on Monday as it sought to confirm a takeover. In February, consultants AlixPartners were called in to oversee the sale process.

BrewDog operates 72 bars around the world as well as four breweries. It is understood the bar closures are a result of the upcoming change in control of the business and related licensing agreements.

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The brand was founded in 2007 by friends James Watt and Martin Dickie and grew impressively over the last two decades, but ran into financial difficulty in more recent years.

Chief executive James Taylor told staff in an internal email: "We appreciate this is an unsettling time for everyone, and we want to ensure that all colleagues have the opportunity to hear directly from us about what happens next.

"We will therefore be holding a series of company-wide All Hands calls tomorrow (Monday) for all employees across the whole business. These will be scheduled tomorrow.

"To enable everyone to attend, and to comply with licensing issues arising from an anticipated change of ownership, we have taken the decision that none of our bars will open tomorrow (Monday). All sites will remain closed for the day.

"We have also cancelled food and beer deliveries, as well as customer bookings, for that day."

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