[6] In 1981 The Observer commented, what has stood Boddingtons in good stead is the highly distinctive flavour of its brews, especially its bitters.

[12] Whitbread was motivated to fill a gap in its portfolio by owning a credible cask ale brand with a national reputation.

[14] Boddingtons had been in decline before the Whitbread takeover, and although it retained an almost "cult" following within its Manchester heartland, only 5 per cent of sales were outside the North West.

[22] The rise in sales of the beer coincided with the elevation of Manchester from "city of dark, beaten mills to the cultural magnet of Madchester".

At that time one in eight barrels of Boddingtons was exported to some 40 countries worldwide, including China, the United States, Taiwan and the West Indies.

[27] John Hegarty, who had worked on the 1990s Boddingtons advertising campaigns, argued that Interbrew, "just didn't care [about the brand], they underinvested and let it rot".

[29] Amidst falling sales, Interbrew relaunched the cask product in the North West of England, with an increased strength.

In 2004, the owners (now known as InBev) announced plans to close the Strangeways Brewery and move most production from Manchester to Magor in South Wales and Samlesbury, Lancashire, with the loss of 60 jobs.

[31] Boddingtons cask ale production, which accounted for less than 10 per cent of output, was moved to Hydes Brewery in Moss Side.

"[34] 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.

[38] In 2017, Anheuser–Busch InBev announced that it was launching a digital, social, PR and video campaign for Boddingtons featuring Melanie Sykes who had appeared in adverts for the brand in 1997.

[39] Boddingtons has a distinctive straw-golden coloured body with a creamy white head, which is achieved by the addition of nitrogen.