{"id":4039,"date":"2023-11-28T13:56:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T13:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=4039"},"modified":"2023-11-28T13:56:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T13:56:23","slug":"trade-news-november-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2023\/11\/28\/trade-news-november-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade news – November 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WETHERSPOON\u2019S NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the last edition went to print, JDW announced that they were putting a further ten pubs up for sale. None of these however are in London. The chain now has around 815 pubs. Chairman Tim Martin believes that the chain\u2019s optimum size is around 1,000 sites. Both former cinema sites (the Capitol and the Coronet) have now been sold and closed. Three pubs in Ireland, those outside Dublin, have also been put up for sale. Two pubs, the Whispering Moon<\/a><\/strong> in Wallington and Wetherspoon\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> at Victoria Station, will be closing so that they can be extended. The Victoria site may not reopen until mid-February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STONEGATE AND CARLSBERG MARSTON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stonegate Group, which is the UK\u2019s largest pub company, has agreed a new ten year partnership with the Carlsberg Marston\u2019s Brewing Company (CMBC). From spring 2024, CMBC will also be Stonegate\u2019s \u2018logistics partner\u2019, responsible for handling all beer deliveries to Stonegate\u2019s managed pubs. Presumably this means that the majority of beers available in Stonegate pubs will be CMBC brands, somewhat reducing consumer choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CMBC are the latest to join the \u20183.4% club\u2019. The ABV of Banks’s Bitter (otherwise known as Amber Ale) has been reduced from 3.8% ABV to 3.4% ABV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YOUNG\u2019S EXPAND<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s have agreed terms with the City Pub Group (CPG) to acquire their portfolio of 47 pubs, 20 of which are in London. The remainder are in southern England and Wales. The purchase price has not been disclosed but the deal puts a value of \u00a3162 million on CPG. If they agree to the deal, CPG shareholders will receive cash and Young\u2019s shares worth more than CPG\u2019s current market value. Young\u2019s believe that CPG\u2019s portfolio will fit very easily into their existing estate. CPG\u2019s recent financial performance has been good. Young\u2019s have also recently purchased four rural pubs from Marston\u2019s, including their first in the New Forest, plus one in Clapton (see Pub News).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMING AND GOING\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban Pubs & Bars (UPB) have opened their first outlet at a London station. They have reopened the former Sports Bar and Grill on the balcony area at Waterloo Station as the Victory<\/a><\/strong>, taking its name from the entrance arch (see the WhatPub Update entry). Sadly the company has surrendered the lease of the Royal Oak<\/a><\/strong> in Harlesden. In an all too familiar story, Nick Pring, director of Urban Pubs and Bars, explained in a Facebook post, \u201cIt is terribly sad not just for us and the staff that work here, but also for the community of Harlesden. The business has been incurring significant losses for the past couple of years which we, as a company, have ridden out in the hope that we could turn a corner; however, recent cost price inflation and a 200 per cent increase in the cost of utilities have made the business untenable.\u201d UPB will honour any bookings made in the run up to Christmas and the staff will be offered work at other UPB pubs. A local councillor described the Royal Oak as a \u2018fantastic community meeting space\u2019 and Brent Council will do what they can to help keep the site open as a pub.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

MEANWHILE IN MUNICH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Munich Oktoberfest has successfully re-established itself after the pandemic hiatus. This year however there have been reports on social media about complaints relating to increased prices. I saw prices quoted for a 1 litre stein of between \u20ac12.60 (\u00a310.92) and \u20ac14.90 (\u00a312.92). The customary trinkgeld (tip) of around \u20ac1.50 is also expected. This equates to \u00a36.20 to \u00a37.30 per pint, which is comparable to central London pub prices for beers of the same strength. I\u2019ll leave readers to decide which represents the best value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GENEROUS GREENE KING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greene King recently made a donation of \u00a350,000 to the charity Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline. The presentation was made at the City of Quebec<\/a><\/strong> in Marylebone, said to be London’s oldest LGBTQ+ pub. This is the third year that GK has supported the charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PUB PRINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This edition we welcome a new advertiser, Pub Scrawls, who produce prints of pubs. Bruce Fisher and illustrator Lilia Mannarini started the project in 2021 with their Hackney Pub Crawl print which featured 25 of the area\u2019s best pubs. The original images were hand-drawn and then photographed and digitised before being produced as lithographs, originally in a limited edition. Bruce, a Hackney resident, explains, \u201cHackney pubs are the perfect symbol of everything that\u2019s good and vibrant about our borough although, sadly, we have lost many over the years and more have suffered badly during the pandemic. It\u2019s fair to say that a fair bit of \u2018live\u2019 research was invested into making the final selection.\u201d 10% of the profit from sales of the Hackney Pub Crawl prints was donated to the Hackney Winter Night Shelter. Pub Scrawls have plans to spread to other London Boroughs, then take the idea nationwide. This started earlier this year with a print of pubs in Camden. The illustrator for this project is Amber Lily Eddy. Again, 10% of the profit will go to charity, this time the Teenage Cancer Trust. As well as the print showing all of the pubs together, you can also buy prints of individual pubs. Dare I suggest possible Christmas presents?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CELTIC RECORD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 7 October, Ireland v Scotland met each other in a Rugby World Cup pool game at the Stade de France in Paris. The game saw an off the field record established with 137,000 pints of beer being sold to 78,459 spectators. This easily beat the previous record of 90,000 pints which was set during a Metallica concert. For the record, Ireland won 36-14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WETHERSPOON\u2019S NEWS Just as the last edition went to print, JDW announced that they were putting a further ten pubs up for sale. None of these however are in London.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4041,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions\/4041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}