SKY\u2019S THE LIMIT<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Readers will be aware that Molson Coors operate a scheme whereby publicans can get a reduction of 30% on the cost of having the Sky Sports television channel if each week they can sell six kegs of any of Carling, Coors Light or Doom Bar. Diageo (Guinness) have now joined the scheme, adding Guinness, Hop House 13, Open Gate Pilsner and Open Gate Citra IPA to the range. Publicans can now increase their discount on Sky to 50% if they sell ten kegs per week from the extended offering. Of these beers, only Doom Bar is a cask ale and if publicans concentrate on selling these beers, will there be any room for other cask beers? By the way, the Premier League season starts on 9 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FULLER\u2019S PUB CO NEWS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest pub to reopen after refurbishment is the Old Bank in Northcote Road SW11. It has a new \u2018botanical\u2019 theme and an eclectic menu, with choices available for vegan and vegetarian diners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happily, beer still seems to be important to Fuller\u2019s and they are still running their Master Cellarman of the Year competition. The winners for 2019 are Angus McKean and Claire Morgan from the Red Lion in Barnes. The judging is based on inspection visits throughout the year during which pubs must achieve an average score of 96% to be entered into the finals of the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, the Russell Page Award, which recognises pubs, both managed and tenanted, which maintain an outstanding level of quality of beer, exemplary customer service and comprehensive knowledge of the brands, went to the Jugged Hare in Vauxhall Bridge Road, Pimlico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During July and August, Fuller\u2019s are running \u2013 for the eighth year \u2013 their Shakespeare in the Garden project. This year it features Romeo & Juliet and the Merry Wives of Windsor, presented by theatre company Open Bar. For details, see fullers.co.uk\/pubs\/shakespeare-in-the-garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NEW PUB COMPANY<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have mentioned the property investment company Aprirose several times recently. They have now set up a pub company, Blackrose, which will manage 44 of the sites that they own. Their chief operating officer, Gary Jones, told the Morning Advertiser, \u201cIt demonstrates our long-term commitment to the sector and will allow us to recruit industry-leading talent and drive value for our clients. We are actively looking for the right assets in the right locations to grow the portfolio further.\u201d There will be some investment in the pubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YOUNG\u2019S RESULTS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At their recent AGM, Young\u2019s announced some very encouraging results for the year ended 1 April, partly attributed to the football World Cup and warm weather. Despite what chief executive Patrick Dardis described as a \u2018tough start to the year\u2019, like-for-like sales in the managed house division increased by 5.1%, with profit before tax increasing by 5.1% to \u00a339.5 million. The Ram Pub Company the tenanted pub section, also saw like-for-like sales increase, up by 5%. Income from hotels is now significant, with an increase in total revenue of 19.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WETHERSPOON\u2019S NEWS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the ten weeks to 7 July, JDW\u2019s sales rose by 6.9% and they expect to meet their financial forecast, although they will need to account for a loss in the region of \u00a33 million brought about by selling some pubs at less than their valuation on the company\u2019s balance sheet. In the financial year to date, JDW opened five pubs but disposed of nine. They have also bought back \u00a35.4 million worth of shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MARSTON\u2019S NEWS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a review of sales volumes, Marston\u2019s are removing cask beer from 21 of their 22 managed pubs in Scotland. The company says that sales were not sufficient to maintain quality. Customers will get keg versions of Pedigree and Hobgoblin IPA instead. It will however continue to supply cask beer to free houses. In an open letter to Marston\u2019s, Sarah Crawford, CAMRA\u2019s director for Scotland, said, \u201cIn Scotland, there are over 5,000 CAMRA members with a strong record of campaigning for quality real ale, community pubs and the rights of pubgoers and real ale drinkers. Our members have been extremely concerned at reports that cask ale will no longer be available in any of Marston\u2019s 22 pubs in Scotland as of this month.\u201d
According to a report in the Times, Marston\u2019s have announced that they are disposing of the Pitcher & Piano chain as part of their debt reduction strategy. They acquired the chain from its founders in 1996 for \u00a320 million and are now looking to sell the 20 outlets for around \u00a340 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DOG\u2019S NEW TRICK<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BrewDog have rebadged the former Draft House, Grand Union in Paddington as a BrewDog outlet, the first to feature their new concept, \u2018Desk Dog\u2019 which has working spaces available, equipped with power, a printer and stationery. These spaces can be reserved. The usual range of BrewDog beers is available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WELL\u2019S CHANGE NAME<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bedford pub company Charles Wells, still family owned, are to change their name to Wells & Co when their new brewery and visitor centre opens next year. Chief executive Justin Phillimore told the Morning Advertiser that, at the new site, the company will be brewing \u2018a range of beer styles that we would not have dreamed of 10 years ago.\u2019 Business has been good since the sale of their brewing business in 2017. For the financial year to September 2018, their operating profit increased by 29% to \u00a35 million. The company now operate 23 pubs (including some in France) and are looking to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NO PROSPECTS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The founders of Redcomb Pubs (sold to Young\u2019s for \u00a334 million in January) have launched a new company called Prospect Pubs & Bars. They will not however be coming to London. One of them, Dan Shotton told the Morning Advertiser, \u201cAt the moment, property values in London are right at the top of the curve. Not just freeholds but free-of-tie leases and tied leases are really expensive at the moment and we don\u2019t see getting good value out of those. Currently there is better value to be had outside the M25.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FAREWELL TO BUFFY\u2019S<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buffy\u2019s Brewery, which has been brewing in Tivetshall St Mary in Norfolk for 25 years, has closed. Roger Abrahams, who founded the brewery with Julie Savory, told the Eastern Daily Press that there were now more than 40 breweries in Norfolk which made it difficult to remain competitive. He added, \u201cThe microbrewing sector everywhere has exploded but it is close to saturation point. The strongest will survive but it has got very aggressive between the brewers. Also the pubs that are left tend to want something different every time, and the big chains have everything else tied up.\u201d This is a complaint regularly heard from regional and family brewers but this is the first time it has come from a brewery the size of Buffy\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SAD ENDING<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brain\u2019s, Cardiff brewers since 1882, had an unfortunate experience with one of the last batches of Bitter brewed at its Cardiff city centre brewery. It wouldn\u2019t settle properly and had a \u2018tangy\u2019 flavour so it had to be recalled and disposed of, all 36,000 pints of it. It was replaced with beer brewed at Brain\u2019s new Dragon Brewery in Tremorfa which opened in March and, once fully operational, will be capable of turning out 20 million pints per annum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HOWZAT?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of you who understand the politics (small p) of cricket, you will not be surprised to learn that, despite the competition being held in a country with around 1,750 breweries, the official beer of the recent cricket world cup, Bira 91, hailed from India. I saw one report that said that pints of the 3.3% ABV golden beer were being sold at \u00a35.40. SKY\u2019S THE LIMIT Readers will be aware that Molson Coors operate a scheme whereby publicans can get a reduction of 30% on the cost of having the Sky Sports television… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","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\/453","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=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions\/481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Compiled by Tony Hedger<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"