The Journey (and other ramblings)

I started the brewery in June of 2008 with the first brew hitting the pumps in the bars around Sheffield on July 15th, coincidently my birthday. At the time I was consumed with pride. Pride that I had taken the step to take redundancy from a job I held for 18 years, a good job at that with a good salary and benefits. I was proud that I had stuck it to the man and embarked upon a journey with no destination but just a feeling that there was something I needed to achieve even though I didn’t really know what it was. It’s a strange feeling that. Not knowing where you are heading but not being able to stop.

Looking back, learning to brew beer was the easy bit and at the time I thought I had it cracked pretty quickly. How wrong can you be! Only time and experience can teach you how to make great beer and now I see people enjoying my ales I feel contented but not complacent. The thing that excites me now is the fact that I have established the business, have gained a good reputation for both my beers and for my own personal touch when dealing with customers, but I still have many, many things to learn and do. Imagine how many beers I still have the opportunity to brew and taste. Imagine how many people will be dragged along this personal journey of mine without knowing it but by simply ordering my beer in the pub because they liked the last one.

As the brewing world quakes to the sound of the big international brewers pounding the world in search of yet more acquisitions the small independent craft micro sector is growing stronger and stronger. We are quietly going about our business making excellent beers with flavour and character that excite and engage drinkers in the experience. Flying beneath the radar of the big brewers and stealing their market share slowly but surely. It can only be good for customer’s choice and local economies but there still needs to be a step change in the way that beer is distributed in the UK. By this I mean the route to market needs to be enabled. The large pub co’s currently controlling the vast majority of pubs must be made to see sense and relinquish some control to their lease holders. The pub tie in principle is a good idea, certainly where brewers are concerned, but the free house model is possibly the best of all. It outstrips any benefit offered by tied leases (if there are any). The tied lease allows people to enter the pub trade with very little in the way of capital expenditure – an entry point level if you will. In the past landlords new about their trade, their business was making you feel welcome and ensuring good beer was served by knowledgeable staff. Unfortunately these days the pub co’s rape their tenants financially on every level, lease costs, rent, tied products with crappy global brands. They operate their business on a different premise to independent brewers. They own housing stock and watch balance sheets. It is a pure numbers game with shareholders to answer too. They have no passion and no vision and do not understand the trade at all.

Here is an example. One of the few remaining coaching Inns in Sheffield is about to close. Owned by a large pub co the landlord rents the place on fairly easy in and out terms. The building is falling to pieces with leaking roof and knackered heating system. To say it is in poor repair is an understatement, yet the landlord has turned the fortunes of the pub around by making it a live alternative music venue. He is profitable and happy to carry on as is. The pub co still wouldn’t refurbish the place, tied him to all beers charging him double what I charge. The pub co is now selling the building and wants him out. They are selling to the highest bidder (of which there aren’t any due to the state of the place) without any knowledge of the area it is in. It sits within the Kelham Island area of Sheffield, or as it is known locally ‘The Valley of Beer’. Pubs around the corner are making record profits as hundreds of people flock to them to try the sixty or so different beers always available in this area. The pub co is so blind to the fact they are sitting on a potential gold mine that in my mind they deserve what they get. Which is nothing.

The Brew Company is about to take the lease on free of tie pub in the same area http://www.theharlequinpub.co.uk/ A pub where we are free to order what beer, wine, spirits, food and entertainment we like without paying a penalty. A pub that is trading stronger than any tied house I have seen. I am happy that this next stage in the development of my brewery is going ahead and know that this will not be the end. More pubs and bars to come? Probably. But the tie I will put in place on my venues will not be restrictive and will actually benefit the tenant as was the original intention of the tied system. To follow our journey into independent brewery pub ownership a new blog has been started by my fiancé (the new landlady). Posts will start to appear over the next week and then every week at http://theharlequinpub.wordpress.com Cheers!

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