- Oliver and William obviously have a clear vision for the future direction of the company and give the strong impression that they are in it for the long term. As John Clarke (chairing the meeting) said, it's unusual for brewery representatives not only to say what they are doing, but also to explain in detail why they are doing it.
- Robinson's no longer supply beer in any cask sizes bigger than firkins, and are currently investing in a large number of pins. They see it as important to give customers a choice of cask beers.
- They also saw it as very important that all their pubs opened seven days a week, as finding a pub closed can seriously damage its reputation.
- The vessels for their new brewery are being sourced from China, which might raise a few eyebrows. However, they made the point that alternative suppliers were also overseas, in places like Bulgaria or Canada, and would be several million pounds more expensive.
- They hoped to start production in the new brewery in the second half of next year.
- There were no definite plans yet for the future of the old brewery - a lot depended on the view of Stockport Council.
- They were supplying about 15,000 barrels of cask beer each to year to their 257 pubs, which is only just over one barrel per week.
- They were targeting 35% of beer sales in their pubs to be their own production, covering both cask and keg.
- They had sold their wholesaling business in 2019, before Covid hit. They made the point that when they sell beer to a wholesaler, it goes out of their control and quality can no longer be guaranteed.
- They had experimented with offering a range of outside guest beers in some pubs, but with a handful of exceptions such as the Black Horse in Preston the formula hadn't worked.
- They firmly intend to reopen the currently mothballed Bull's Head and Pineapple in Stockport town centre when the time was right.
- They had applied restrictive covenants to pubs they had sold on rare occasions, but this was as likely to have been at the request of the buyer. It certainly is not a general policy (and indeed there are numerous examples of former Robinson’s pubs having been acquired by other operators).
Nobody asked them about pub refurbishments, but I suspect they would have given a blunt answer that they weren't running a museum, and that they needed to invest in pubs to guarantee their future.
The millionaire duo stood and cackled, "We're rich, we're getting richer. You're poor, you're getting poorer. Thanks for buying our overpriced beer. Continue to do so and ignore all that cheap beer in Wetherspoons, including when you see Trooper for half the price it is in our own pubs. We'll let your town rot with boarded up pubs and let your taxes revitalise it and land bank our pubs until we're we're good and ready to cash in. Keep buying the beer, lads"
ReplyDeleteAnd the CAMRA branch all tugged their forelocks and thanked them for coming and promised to keep buying overpriced beer.
I've often criticised Robinson's over the years. But if they were solely in it for the money, they'd have cashed in long ago. They've winnowed out all the chaff from the pub estate now - those 257 pubs, probably virtually all freehold, must be worth at least £50 million.
DeleteRobinsons? That's just a smaller Greenalls, with Heavy Metal and Old Tom.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think that 50 years ago companies like Robinson's were lionised by CAMRA. Now you have to brew eye-watering hop soup in an industrial unit.
DeleteAt this rate, Robinsons will soon be a microbrewery. Then CAMRA can fall back in love with it.
DeleteEh? What are you on about? CAMRA have a voucher scheme that can pretty much only be used in corporate chain pubs where the regular ales are Greene King and Doom Bar. They consistently stand up for big breweries producing real ale. Perhaps you’re thinking of a different CAMRA?
DeleteBut a lot of CAMRA members on the ground don't like that scheme. And the remaining family brewers are often treated with a certain amount of disdain.
DeleteI can’t say I have seen much of that disdain. Doesn’t your own branch regularly choose Hydes pubs for their pub of the season?
DeleteThere are only two family brewer pubs listed in the GBG in the whole of the county of Cheshire, which surely suggests a certain amount of prejudice.
DeleteOne barrel per pub per week? They've not really got any one pump clip pubs. It's not adding up, lads.
ReplyDeleteIf so, it's keg beer in all but name and it's now a pub company with a vanity brewery attached.
I'd hazard a guess that a fair few don't sell cask at all, bumping up the average in those that do. That said, four firkins a week is fairly respectable these days and certainly enough to maintain quality.
DeleteParticularly if by 'barrel' they mean 'nine' - that's a turnover of ten pints a day!
Delete@electricpics - I'd say all apart from the odd one such as the Star & Garter in Stockport sell cask. As you say, it's four firkins a week - that's the reality of the pub trade nowadays.
Delete@Phil - no, it's definitely barrels, as in 36 gallons. It's the usual measure used as a comparator of volumes.
Robinsons may have bought favourable coverage in Opening Times, but I thought your blog was no longer beholden to the Editor?
ReplyDelete"Very different in both appearance and personality" was certainly my impression on seeing and hearing them for the first time last week.
ReplyDeleteOther than "Trooper", you never see any of their beers south of Macclesfield.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point.
DeleteI visited 600+ different pubs last year (not all GBG) and probably came across a Robinsons beer half a dozen times, if that. The Trooper variants very occasionally pop up in Spoons, and Dizzy Blonde in a certain sort of dining pub, but if you want Unicorn you have to head to a Robbies pub.
20 years ago I fell in love with scruffy Robbies pubs like the Tiviot and Spread Eagle, and resent their blandification (not the Poynton one), but on recent Stockport trips the actual beer has been as good as I can remember (Swan With Two Necks stood out).
"They made the point that when they sell beer to a wholesaler, it goes out of their control and quality can no longer be guaranteed." So, other than a few exceptions where they sell directly into Spoons and a couple of other chains, that's why - they don't sell much to wholesalers.
DeleteThanks @electricpics, explains a lot. I wish more lauded breweries like Tim Taylors and Harveys cared more about guaranteeing the quality of the end pint.
Delete@RM Back in the day Tim Taylors wouldn't even sell to a pub without a visit from a rep. When I worked for Camerons we were the first and only wholesaler they dealt with and they insisted on sending their beer unfined, along with a large container of their own finings so we could fine them just before delivery, making sure the finings only had to work once. They swapped extremely high quality for volume. Can't criticise them for expanding but the loss of quality was inevitable.
DeleteThere's rather too much cynicism here for my liking, especially from commentators who probably don't remember the days when cask ale was thin on the ground. As Mudgie rightly point out, 50 years ago companies like Robinson's were lionised by CAMRA, but now the focus seems to have shifted to "man in a shed" breweries, churning out citrus-flavoured murk.
ReplyDeleteRobinson's wouldn't have invested in a brand new brewery if they weren't in it for the long haul, so why not cut the company some slack?
Cynic here. I went to Blossoms about 6 months ago. Have wanted to go for a while given its age etc. The beer quality was awful, not sure what it was. Bar blocker problem as well. Sat next to a dishevelled man who had brought his own food in post shopping. Bar staff got him to buy a half. I'll give it another try.
DeleteI suppose I only tend to visit the Blossoms for CAMRA events, which I accept may not be representative. I agree it has a bar blocker problem.
DeleteDon't be so cynical about the "Cheshire" brewer that never mentions it's from Stockport.
ReplyDeleteIt must be said that the beer on this occasion (Unicorn, Old Tom and a seasonal stout that I forget the name of) was all excellent :-)
ReplyDelete