Guinness
Further to my article in the previous edition, there were rumours at the end of January that Diageo were planning to sell the Guinness brand. This was subsequently strongly denied, although they did sell their subsidiary company in Ghana. They have also announced a 4.2% price increase. At the Cheltenham race meeting in March, they were charging £7.80 for a pint (£7.40 for 0.0). Meanwhile Heineken have announced that they are making Murphy’s stout available to supermarkets (440ml cans) but the opportunity may have passed. Look out also for Beamish & Crawford’s stout, also, like Murphy’s, brewed in Cork City and owned by Heineken.
I omitted to mention that there is already a pub in Covent Garden serving stouts and porters. This is the Porterhouse in Maiden Lane, which serves beers from Ireland’s Porterhouse Brewery Company. The beers are served under pressure but are unpasteurised. Guest cask beers are also stocked.
The return of Jennings
Not a London brewery but this is worth reporting because it is encouraging news. What is now Carlsberg Britvic (CB) closed the 200 year old Grade II-listed Jennings brewery in Cockermouth, Cumbria, at the end of 2022 and, in early February, it was reported that they had sold the brewery. The site has not however, as you might expect, been sold for redevelopment but to a local couple, along with the rights to the brand and the recipe book from which they intend to restart brewing. It is very unusual for a brewery to be sold as, in effect, a going concern. The buyers, Kurt and Rebecca Canfield, are well known local business people who respectively own an engineering works and a wine company. The building needs some significant repairs, which need to take account of its listed status, but the Canfields say, ‘If all goes well, the site should be producing beer again by the summer’. They will be producing both cask and bottled beer. A number of jobs will be created and they are looking for a head brewer. CB had already announced that they were discontinuing the Jennings branded beers that they have been producing at the old Marston’s brewery in Burton on Trent. What CB have got planned for the other breweries that they have closed or plan to close, Banks’s, Ringwood and Wychwood, remains to be seen.
Fuller’s news
Fuller’s have purchased the White Swan, by the Thames at Twickenham, from private owners. Fuller’s chief executive, Simon Emeny commented, “I’ve always thought that the White Swan is the best pub in Twickenham, outside of our existing estate, so I’m delighted.”
Fuller’s are continuing their support for Special Olympics Great Britain (GB). Since they first made the link in 2018, they have raised over £1 million for the organisation that provides life changing opportunities at grassroots clubs across England, Scotland, and Wales for children and adults with intellectual (learning) disabilities. A major source of funds is the annual sponsored walk, the Fuller’s Bridge Walk, which sees nearly 100 staff join with Special Olympics GB athletes and volunteers to walk more than twenty miles along the River Thames, visiting several Fuller’s pubs along the way. Well, it would be rude not to. They also stage the six-a-side Charity Unified Football tournament which, in 2024, raised £21,000. The Chief Executive of Special Olympics GB, Laura Baxter MBE, said, “Our partnership with Fuller’s has really gone from strength to strength since 2018 and we are proud of how our work is helping to drive societal change for those with intellectual disabilities.”
Similarly, the Cabbage Patch in Twickenham, almost in sight of the stadium, staged a ‘sensory friendly’ event for the Wales v England Six Nations rugby match on 15 March. This was the initiative of general manager Stuart Green and included providing subtitles on one of the televisions, lower than usual sound levels and noise blockers such as earplugs. If it was successful the concept might be extended to the upcoming Women’s Six Nations matches.
Wetherspoon’s news
JDW had a good Christmas and New Year with like-for-like sales up by 6.1%. They are considering expanding overseas. Chairman Sir Tim Martin said that they were looking at those holiday resorts that are popular with UK tourists, such as Alicante, Benidorm and Majorca plus, possibly, some ‘winter sun’ destinations as well.
Closer to home, they are also considering setting up more franchise operations, similar to the existing arrangements that they have with the student unions at Hull and Newcastle universities. Sir Tim also said that he is keeping a eye on the possible sale of Crown Post Offices because they are ‘often large buildings with good architectural features that would make great pubs’.
JDW are still hoping to reopen the Barking Dog by Barking Station. This will be the ground floor of a 28 storey tower block currently under construction, replacing the original that was demolished in 2023. Progress was however delayed when the original contractor went into administration. A JDW spokesperson said, “Wetherspoon is committed to reopening the pub. There are no timescales as yet as it depends on the date the developer hands over the site to Wetherspoon. Wetherspoon is not in control of that.”
Order, order
Shepherd Neame have refurbished the Westminster Arms in Storey’s Gate, close to Westminster Abbey, at a cost of £1.2 million. The pub, which dates from the 19th century, is close enough to the Houses of Parliament to have a division bell in the bar. This calls MPs to vote. Both the exterior and interior are being redecorated and equipped with new furniture. The pub reopened on 17 March.
Verdant return to London
Verdant Brewery, based in Penryn Cornwall, used to have a taproom in Hackney called the Experiment. It was a joint venture with Pressure Drop and closed in 2023. Verdant have however now announced that they will be returning to London for at least six months from February. They are having what they describe as a residency at Craft Metropolis in Coldharbour Lane, Loughborough Junction. Verdant say ‘Think juicy, hoppy, unfiltered, hazy beers that are always vegan!’
Comings and goings
Star Pubs & Bars, owned by Heineken, are transferring another 30 pubs to their new concept Just Add Talent (JAT). These are what they term ‘managed operator’ pubs. Some of the pubs are being refurbished. The theme of JAT pubs is sport and entertainment.
Stonegate have put a tranche of 25 free-of-tie pubs, valued at £26 million, on the market. They are available individually or in small groups. The sale is described as an investment package because all of the pubs are currently let on long leases and so, unless the purchasers buy out the existing lessee, they cannot immediately move into them. The pubs, which are spread around the country, can be expected to continue trading as they are currently. Six of them are in London: the Bird in Hand, Bromley; the Coningham in Shepherds Bush; the Dockers Inn in Wapping; the Phoenix in Marylebone; the Rebel Inn in Streatham and the Three Colts in Buckhurst Hill.
Some disturbing news from Mitchells & Butlers (M&B). Last year, M&B acquired a chain of ten Italian restaurants called Pesto. They have been so successful that M&B have decided to convert some of their pubs to the Pesto concept. The first is the White Swan in Wythall in the West Midlands. This raises the issue of the conversion of pubs to restaurants, as highlighted in the Pub Heritage column.
Sign of the times
To finish, an odd story taken from Sam Cullen’s book London’s Lost Pubs. When, in 1968, Young’s built a replacement pub in Mortlake , they decided to honour a long standing employee by naming the pub after him. This was their head drayman, Charlie Butler, who worked for them for 43 years. Under his management Young’s magnificent shire horses won over 3,000 awards. Sadly, the pub only lasted a few years longer than Charlie’s career. It closed in 2012, having been sold for development and was demolished to make way for a small block of flats. It was a shame because it was built in a distinctive house style, of which no examples now remain. The oddity is that the pub sign, picturing Charlie holding a horse, is now to be found in the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, a sports bar in Houston, Texas. It was not, as you may assume, acquired as architectural salvage and it also happened some time before the pub closed. This particular sign became spare when Young’s updated their pub signs in 2000 and it was one of several gifted to the Flying Saucer by the then chairman, John Young, during a visit to the USA.