It must be said that this news will not provoke many tears, as Humphrey has been, to say the least, a controversial character, and some of his actions have seemed downright perverse. He has imposed draconian and offputting house rules in his pubs, he has gained a reputation for treating his staff in an arbitrary and high-handed manner, and he has kept many properties, both licensed and unlicensed, closed for many years, sometimes stretching into decades, partly due to the difficulties he has experienced in recruiting suitable managers for his pubs.
How much of a change the new regime will bring remains to be seen, but surely there must be some relaxation in the house rules, in particular allowing the use of mobile phones and other devices. It would not be unreasonable to expect them to be kept on silent and for any animated conversations to be taken outside, but it is ludicrous to prevent a customer even checking the times of their trains home. Apparently in London this rule is largely ignored, and maybe Sam will extend this approach to the rest of the estate. Personally I would also allow well-behaved dogs into their rural pubs, as this must be a major factor putting potential customers off. The company showed that they could change in response to commercial pressures when they finally began to accept card payments in the Autumn of 2022.
The most important issue, though, must be sorting out the recruitment of managers, which is the key bottleneck that is keeping so many of their pubs closed. I have heard it said that they will only recruit child-free married couples, which must greatly reduce the pool from which they can draw, although I have seen some examples where single-handed licensees appear to be in charge. The level of remuneration is probably on the stingy side too. They could also consider using relief managers to keep pubs open, as every time a pub is closed for a prolonged period you inevitably lose some customers permanently.
The question is often raised as to whether they could widen their appeal by introducing a second cask beer alongside Old Brewery Bitter. In the past they have tried this with the lighter Tadcaster Bitter, and the strong, heavy Museum Ale, but I think have only offered OBB for a good thirty years now. It isn’t clear exactly what type of beer would sell in sufficient volumes alongside OBB. Possibly in the current climate a paler, hoppier beer in the 4.1-4.5% ABV range, rather like a diuluted version of the keg India Ale, would be the best candidate, but it has to be remembered that Sam’s pubs tend to appeal to a conservative clientele, not beer geeks.
Despite all these problems, it has to be said that Sam’s pubs, when they are open, have a very distinctive appeal that is not matched by any of their competitors. They offer comfortable seating, traditional décor with plenty of dark wood, an absence of TV sport and piped music, and only admit children if dining, making their wet-led pubs adults-only. They are oases of calm. They may not offer the widest choice of beer, or the absolute best beer, but in many locations they are the most congenial pubs around. As Anthony Avis said in his reflections on the British brewing industry: “The custom is aimed at the older person, who relishes a good pint, with home-produced food if he wants it, and the surroundings to sit down and talk with his companions in unfashionable comfort – just like the brewery industry advertising of forty years ago represented pubs to be.”
Hopefully Humphrey’s successor will recognise this uniqueness and proceed cautiously in making any changes. As I said when I wrote about introducing card payments a couple of years ago:
Humphrey Smith is now in his late seventies, and one can only hope that when the time comes that his successors will respect the company’s distinctive heritage and appeal while removing the obstacles that deter people from both visiting their pubs and working for them. But there must be a nagging fear that they will end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Good article. I used to frequent the London pubs and was happy to trade a drinks selection I was satisfied with for great value prices in some stunning properties ( Princess Louise, The Champion etc). Unfortunately at some point the London prices have skyrocketed and it is just not worth going in them anymore. Going forward I think they need to start selling drinks from other companies or think about how they can drop prices so they stand out again ( I very much doubt the latter would happen).
ReplyDeleteI hope they stay as they are. I love the wide variety of quality beer and particularly the organic range like the pale ale. I used to enjoy the Museum Ale but i doubt that would sell now. Most of all i hope they keep oak casks and a cooper.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I wasn't aware of the 'no device' rule. I can see the point of it but I live a solitary life and like to sit in a quiet pub reading a book on my iPad, so I'll avoid Sam Smith's pubs if I'm up north.
ReplyDeleteI visited Tadcaster recently and was impressed at how quiet, old-fashioned and unspoiled it is. I believe Humphrey Smith owns many of the properties in the town. Many of these properties are empty but well-kept. Perhaps Humph has deliberately kept the town traditional, just like he keeps his pubs, by not letting undesirables in. Humph for Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteHumph buys stuff and then just leaves it. When I moved to Bristol in 1980 he'd just bought an ex-Seamens' Mission chapel in the city centre. It was derelict. When I left in 2018 he still owned it and it was still derelict.
ReplyDeleteBill are you sure it is was not bits of rubble in 2018?
DeleteOscar
Last time I saw it, it was still standing. Might have been knocked down since.
DeleteSuprised it was still standing, 38 years is enough for a building to fall into ruin. Hopefully it is has been renovated.
DeleteOscar
The no dogs rule doesn't seen to bitten very deeply into Wetherspoon's profits. But it does make the pubs more attractive.
ReplyDeleteYawn, where would we be without a bit of cynophobia?
DeleteThe difference is that Spoons don't run country pubs. If you ban dogs in a country pub, you'll lose a lot of trade.
But we do share Ailurophilia.
DeleteThe long list of draconian rules does appear off putting, many of them are relatively recent and it is difficult to see the difference between a lone drinker reading a newspaper to a tablet, to name but one. Most pubs manage their clientele with greater subtlety. It's straightforward to welcome who you want and put off who you don't. CAMRA pubs do it very well.
ReplyDeleteThe no effing and jeffing rule was a wise move in the north when they ran pubs offering the cheapest pint in town. Now Timbo hold holds that status, I doubt a chain rule is required. A decent landlord may manage that well enough as occurs in most pubs.
The difficulty in recruiting shows they are doing something wrong operationally. The terms may be bad but the reputation worse. This is a job requiring a deposit paid, accommodation included, and Humpf has a reputation for turfing people out at short notice. An under new management notice and better terms and protections may improve this, but it's difficult once you've given a dog a bad name. The Pub Cos rename themselves and re form to shirk off old reputations.
An interesting insight in the mail suggested the company is highly geared. Something that's difficult to believe unless he has needed to buy relatives out. He's not been on a buying spree. An alternative to asset utilisation is asset divestment. The new guy has under utilised assets with high real estate values he could use to buy out cousins and consolidate in fewer hands.
The best guess as to what it means operationally, is to look at the London pubs the lad is currently overseeing. I would add that the USP of Sams is tradition not modernity, so I'd be surprised to see them try to update their offering too much.
I really don't buy the highly geared bit. Not for a second. The quoter came from a local acquaintance and was likely Humph throwing him off the scent. As for buying out rellies, I'd bet that is pretty watertight too. Otherwise - agreed.
DeleteThe company is anything but 'highly geared'. Humphrey and his brother Oliver are the only two beneficiaries of the equal shares that are held in two trusts, with Humphrey's share having a higher proportion of controlling shares. There are no other relatives to buy out and never have been. There are other companies in the empire and again, the shareholdings are again equal. Operationally, they've apparently taken on an Estates Manager, as they used to have up to around 15 years ago, who will be the line manager of the pubs.
DeleteI like curmudgeons. Especially pub curmudgeons.
ReplyDeleteAnd Humph is the pin-up boy for not giving a fuck and I like that too.
In today's homogeneous and inclusive society a bit of my gaff my rules doesn't go amiss
And if Britain's worst brewer says real ale is dead then my money's on Humph saying no it ain't pal.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/02/spitfire-brewer-shifts-craft-beer-drinkers-snub-real-ale/
Ya know nowt ya little irish leprecaun. Eveyone knows Sams doesn't give a monkeys about cask beer and prefers keg every time
DeleteIf Sam's didn't give a monkey's about cask, then why do they maintain a stock of wooden casks to serve it from, and operate a dedicated cooperage to maintain them?
DeleteAnyone wanting to know what happens to a brewery when its figurehead for decades retires or shuffles off this mortal coil would do well to look at John Young.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't touch Youngs with an extendable barge pole these days.
Warm,flat ditchwater.
The bit many don't appreciate as family businesses stretch into multiple generations are those family members uninterested in the business but entitled to a slice of it. The silent shareholders will have noticed the under utilisation of assets and whilst they may be restricted in who they can sell to, may want to take the money and run. 2nd cousins are not siblings and family ties loosen. It will be preferable to buy them out than have them voting to sell up. That’s taking on debt or divesting assets.
DeleteIf there is value, it is in the pubs, not the brewing, for any buyer. Whether in bits or as a whole. I like their beer and highly rate it, but it isn’t a strong brand in the UK and Americans wouldn’t know Tadcaster from Burton if the export beers were contract brewed.
They seem to have overcome the 3rd generation useless grandson problem that affects some of these operations. The 3rd generation being the one raised in opulence, private education & unearned allowances with little appreciation of where it all comes from, pissing it all away. They have trained up a successor who has by all accounts done well with the southern operations he has managed. Often businesses are appointing none family competent CEOs at this point.
Sams have never had much interested in cask, a reason the CAMRAs dislike them, so any new product development will be keg. The traditional theme of the pubs is a stand out feature with so many other pubs modernising so I’d bet on Mudgies bench seats staying.
You make good points about family, but it all depends who is entitled to get their nose in the trough. That isn't likely to be many and will be with severe restrictions. Most, if not all family brewers that are left have learned that lesson from others who didn't. Look at Lees, Hydes and Holts. All successions in place and these businesses can be money trees if done properly. They'll know that now.
DeleteBench seats are the future.
Anonymous was me. Don't know why it showed up that way. User error I assume.
DeleteBench seats covered in cloth are some of the best spots in the pub but nothing beats sitting on a stool at the counter.
DeleteOscar
A very good read, and all I'd say in mildest disagreement is that while the OBB isn't always the best (but was excellent in the re-opened Cow and Calf in Grenoside recently), I've though the stout and bottled fruit beers superb, and American readers may have some views on the other bottles (though I suspect Cookie is right that they wouldn't notice a change in brewers).
ReplyDeletePre COVID the local beards had a Beer Week thingamajig. All credit to them. I went on a few cellar tours. The Sams were using 36 gallon wooden barrels for the cask bitter. At the then £2 a pop they were turning it over enough to be a decent pint. Exciting times.
DeleteNo idea whether that is still the system as turnover has observably dropped. Maybe Mudge as a present and up to date beardy can can us whether Sams have gone on 9 gallons like everyone else?
My understanding is that Sam's generally use 18s, but don't supply cask ale in 9s. The Boar's Head is noticeably quieter than it was pre-Covid but, there again, so is the rest of Stockport town centre.
DeleteWell they did add a second cask beer about five years ago, but it was only in a few London pubs for a very limited time. Also it was 8% and pretty damn good. A few more unexpected moves like this would be most welcome.
ReplyDeleteI've never really understood the 'traditional' thing because there must've been a point a few decades ago where the company deliberately decided to modernise by making almost all their beer non-cask. I get that 70s-style backlit keg fonts look very retro now, but they're hardly traditional dispense and indeed don't have a 'traditional' aesthetic when compared to handpulls or gravity, which would seem to complement their pubs decor rather better.
Sams take on 'tradition' has always felt a bit of an anachronistic pastiche to me. Their target market always seemed to be tourists (in London) and budget-conscious older drinkers (around their home turf). A strange mix, and one that I'm not convinced is sustainable in the longer term. They're sitting on some lucrative property, mind. Is Sam Jr. maybe going to wait for Humph to die then cash the fuck in?
There will come a time at least here in Ireland when everyone who can remember cask ale and stout being the norm will be dead. I regularly drink with an aul fella in his 80’s who remembers casked Guinness. Much like steam locomotives in regular they will fade from living memory and diesel and electric traction will be seen as traditional ditto for keg beer.
DeleteOscar
BV,
DeleteYes, Humphrey's Yorkshire Stingo was well worth me going to London for 27 hours during November 2019.
While I have not had the Taddy porter/stout and the stronger stout/porter they do, I have had the chocolate stout/porter a couple times and it is always lovely especially with chocolate deserts.
ReplyDeleteOscar
I used to drink the OBB but nowadays find it too heavy, or brown, for my taste so I drink either taddy or organic lager instead, both quite excellent and dry and crisp. Once in a summer when I go on a day trip down to Durham, I really like the swan and cygnets something, nice beer terrace outside, river view, looks very English, soo to become a diversity hell hole.
ReplyDeleteI would double down on the mobile ban, not ease it.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Sovereign Bitter? My dad prefers that to OBB, but it seems to have disappeared (in the places I have been to in the last couple of years, anyway).
ReplyDelete