Edmund Halley closure on 30 Dec confirmed
Edmund Halley closure on 30 Dec confirmed
On leaving the bar, I felt a strong blow to the back of my head. Turning round, I discovered it was the pavement
More info.Originally Posted by rpadam
Not sure if the issue here is the installation of cellar equipment, rising prices, or both. But either way, you'd think a contract between two big players would be fairly clear on what you would expect be fairly basic fundamental aspects of a supply agreement.
https://beernouveau.co.uk/spoons-vs-ab-inbev/
You'd think it would be very clear indeed.
An interesting comment about 'freehouse' as I too would have though it was up to the manager to choose the beers, having a greater knowledge of his or her market.
With regard to 'spoons 'ENGERLAND FIRST stance', I would have though this would apply only to cask beers as I don't know what other country makes them and have never seen anything other in a 'spoons outlet. Apart from the usual cask drainpour offerings like Gloom, London Plague and GK IPeeA https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/86846/ and especially https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/25637/ have very London centric offerings.
I didn't want to get drawn into the 'free house' thing as that seems to be a bit of a minefield!
I may be wrong but my understanding with Spoons was that there is a list of cask beers that each branch can select from, I even remember being in one years ago where customers could vote for which cask ales they wanted to see (presumably from this predetermined list). I think that also goes some way to explain why some branches have a better selection than others, for example you see some that always have a dark beer or two on whereas others shy away and stick to bitters and pale ales. I guess each manager gets a feel for what his customers want or what sells well in his (or her) pub. I think some branches also have local beers available in bottles, that are perhaps not available nationally. I've certainly seen bottled beers from Manchester regional breweries in the fridges around the Manchester area, and I recall being able to buy a London bottled beer when visiting a branch in London. But as for the keg stuff that just seems to be a copy and paste with every branch the same, so I suppose that must be the stuff they have a specific supply contract for.
I think the issue is that the term 'free house' isn't as clear cut as it may have been in years gone by, with pubcos rather than actual breweries owning most of the pubs that you see these days. Possible exceptions of Sam Smith's and Greene King. Definitely a minefield.
Back to the issue of the supply contract, it seems a bit late in the day for the issue of cellar equipment to come to light when Spoons have been serving beers from their new supplier for quite some time now and all the T-bars etc all seem to have the correct branding on them. It's not like they have stuck a hand written sticker over the John Smith's tap and written Worthington's on it while waiting for someone to turn up and change it, from an outsider's perspective it all seems to be done and dusted, so perhaps that is being used as a technicality and is masking whatever the real issue is.
My money is on buyer's remorse from AB -and they're looking for a technical out.
On the free of tie side, I've noticed that the West Country Spoons often have Sandfords cider on keg, which you won't see elsewhere. So I guess there's area manager discretion.
I suppose the 'true' definition of a free house is that it's not tied to a brewery, but that doesn't mean that it has a huge selection of cask; it could just stock Fozzies and be called a free house.
I don't really go to 'spoons, but the notable exceptions are The Barrel Vault (JD Wetherspoon) which is quite London centric and The Rochester Castle (JD Wetherspoon), which has got its act together and is now no longer the horror story painted by previous reviewers, is or was in the habit of stocking six cask options, all from Hackney/East London, the quality in both branches can't be faulted.
However, The White Swan (JD Wetherspoon) apart from the usual suspects, has a very limited and seemingly random choice, with just two visits finding the quality very poor indeed, but then again it's about the worst 'spoons I've been in. And it used to be worse...
Last edited by Tris39; 29-03-2023 at 14:53.
Closed at 781p today. I'm quite a few quid up after a buying spree over winter.
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