Kent is famous as one of the first places in England to see the use of hops in beer and there is a long history of brewing in the north Kent town of Faversham. It stands on the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. There are records showing that there has been brewing on Shepherd Neame’s site since 1698 but it wasn’t until 34 years later that the Shepherds came onto the scene. The name Shepherd Neame came into being in 1877 when the Neame family bought into the brewery.
Like a lot of businesses in Victorian times, it was the railway that really put the brewery on the map. The railway was built between 1857 and 1864 and the Shepherd family took full advantage of this new form of transport. Over a number of years the company set up a chain of 15 railway depots from where local dealers would buy SN’s beer and sell it onto their customers locally. Two of the depots, for example, were in Penge and Camberwell.
Where trains weren’t available, or for the last part of the delivery from train to pub, the horse drawn dray came into its own. They had their limitations however. A horse drawn dray could not get over the North Downs so that part of the region was not accessible to the brewery. Ever open to new technology, the brewery solved this problem by buying a steam dray to go where horses couldn’t reach.
Change continued to epitomise the twentieth century but it wasn’t just technological change; politics also had a major impact on the beer market. The major event which Jonathan Neame, Shepherd Neame’s Chief Executive, cited was the Monopolies and Mergers Commission recommendations in 1989, under which pub estates tied to breweries were capped at 2,000 pubs. To get to this limit, the ‘Big Six’ (Allied, Bass, Courage, Grand Met, S&N and Whitbread) were given two years either to sell pubs or to allow them to go free of tie. Consequently, a number of pubs came onto the market. Jonathan continued, “This allowed Shepherd Neame to expand into central London when Allied and Whitbread were selling off pubs. At this time, Faversham was mainly boat building and agriculture. The area has completely changed and so have our customers. Our core market is men aged 45 plus. They are loyal but our challenge is to develop beers with different flavours to reflect changing tastes. Locally, tourism is now important and visitors want to know about local provenance and ethical provenance and the increase in tourism gives us an opportunity to look for pubs with accommodation.”
The other area of change has been eating in pubs. “It’s shifted to be ‘a food occasion with the family’ but this has become expensive for some. We have invested in food development with the idea that people may go out less but when they do, they want a better experience,” said Jonathan, adding that at the moment they still had many pubs that were wet led.
Today, Shepherd Neame have 300 pubs, three quarters of which are managed. As with most pub owning companies, there has been a churn in the pubs. 45 pubs are within the M25, of which 20 are in central London. Jonathan said, “Our first London pub was the Duke of Rutland in Smithfield which we bought in the early 1970’s; it’s known now as the Bishops Finger and is a pub that is still owned by the brewery.”
Shepherd Neame, like every part of the hospitality industry, felt the impact of the pandemic. Jonathan explained that for a family owned business raising equity was not an option and so they had to take on more debt. Consequently they had to stop all projects. One of their biggest concerns was that pubs were empty. “We cancelled the rents for tenants for ten months. Licensees were obtaining grants at this time and a lot were putting them into their pubs. We have developed a good reputation for looking after people. Trust is fundamental with customers and licensees and we generated a lot of good will. The one thing I would have changed is that, in hindsight, I would have liked to have carried out some of the projects we had planned during the pandemic rather than stop them as we did.”
Regardless, Jonathan clearly has an eye on the future and his focus is on the period 2025 to 2030. He sees the ‘no and low’ alcohol market becoming more important and the brewery has made a commitment to continue investing in people and training. Jonathan explained, “We have 77 apprentices and we want to continue to improve dispense and cellar training and we have put in a structured career path to develop our people.” He sees that, in the current climate, there is likely to be more belt tightening but he remains optimistic. “The best place to socialise is in the pub. I continue to think that good pubs can be as strong as ever and will always be at the centre of community life; I don’t think that will change.”
I think that we can all support that sentiment and hope that SN continue to remain an independent family brewer, one of just 27 remaining in the UK (down by one since Fuller’s sold their brewery).
For more information on the brewery see their website and details of their London pubs can be found by clicking here.
Christine Cryne