LIVERPOOL brewer Cains has been admitted to The Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB), nine years after it was refused membership amid accusations of a cartel.

Cains’ joint managing directors, Ajmail and Sudarghara Dusanj, are the first Asian family to be admitted to the organisation as its 30th family brewery.

IFBB chair Paul Wells said: “In welcoming Cains, we are honouring the company and the long tradition of brewing from Cains’ Liverpool brewery . . .we are pleased to have Cains in our ranks.”

Sudarghara Dusanj added: “As an Asian-owned family brewery, we’re delighted to be joining the IFBB. Our membership is a wonderful endorsement for our business and the efforts we have made in pushing forward within the industry.”

The brothers originally applied for membership in 2002 after acquiring Cains but, despite satisfying the IFBB’s four main criteria, were turned down 18 months later after the organisation introduced a new rule that applicants must have been in continual ownership for 10 years.

The brothers considered reporting the IFBB to the Office of Fair Trading, claiming the exclusive “closed shop” of family-owned breweries was, effectively, a cartel.