Dave Richardson considers the challenge facing all local breweries
Reading about the problems faced by independent breweries having their beers stocked by local pubs, I began to wonder just how many genuine free houses there are with total control over what cask ales they sell.
“Free house” is a term very much open to interpretation, and can be misleading. Wetherspoon advertises its pubs as free houses and while its managers may have some discretion to sell a local beer, mostly its pubs order from a changing list compiled by head office. It’s the same with other pub companies such as Marston’s, M&B, Stonegate and many others, while breweries including Greene King and Fuller’s also have an approved guest list to offer variety – a big change from a few years ago.
The Oranges & Lemons offers one of the best choices in Oxford. Image: R.Patterson
In Oxford, genuine free houses are few as in most parts of the country. They include (in no particular order) the White Rabbit, Lamb & Flag, Jolly Farmers, Wheatsheaf, Gardeners Arms (Plantation Road), Rose & Crown, Star, Masons Arms, Jolly Postboys, Perch and White Hart, Wolvercote – plus a few more.
Morgan Pub Collective’s pubs the Grapes and Oranges & Lemons could be added to the list as its landlords have a lot of freedom in what they order. The Royal Blenheim, while operated by Titanic, has up to four guest ales.
The Rose & Crown, North Oxford
Even some free houses offer limited opportunities to brewers with the Rose & Crown, for example, having three “permanent” real ales and only one guest pump as it knows what customers like. But however you crunch the numbers, it’s a highly challenging scenario for local brewers and many have responded by opening their own taprooms and ramping up direct sales.
Independent brewers group SIBA feels, rightly, that members are being squeezed out. But even if English pub tenants gained the legal right to sell one beer of their choosing, as in Scotland, you suspect the big brewers and pub companies would still have them over a barrel. By threatening to raise the price of their own beers, for example.
On Monday mornings, the phones of landlords running genuine free houses must glow hot with calls from hopeful breweries looking to get one of their beers on that elusive guest pump. These pubs and these breweries deserve our every support, but all too often we have to go to a brewery taproom or order home delivery to taste their outstanding beers.
So when is a free house not a free house?
Dave Richardson considers the challenge facing all local breweries
Reading about the problems faced by independent breweries having their beers stocked by local pubs, I began to wonder just how many genuine free houses there are with total control over what cask ales they sell.
“Free house” is a term very much open to interpretation, and can be misleading. Wetherspoon advertises its pubs as free houses and while its managers may have some discretion to sell a local beer, mostly its pubs order from a changing list compiled by head office. It’s the same with other pub companies such as Marston’s, M&B, Stonegate and many others, while breweries including Greene King and Fuller’s also have an approved guest list to offer variety – a big change from a few years ago.
In Oxford, genuine free houses are few as in most parts of the country. They include (in no particular order) the White Rabbit, Lamb & Flag, Jolly Farmers, Wheatsheaf, Gardeners Arms (Plantation Road), Rose & Crown, Star, Masons Arms, Jolly Postboys, Perch and White Hart, Wolvercote – plus a few more.
Morgan Pub Collective’s pubs the Grapes and Oranges & Lemons could be added to the list as its landlords have a lot of freedom in what they order. The Royal Blenheim, while operated by Titanic, has up to four guest ales.
Even some free houses offer limited opportunities to brewers with the Rose & Crown, for example, having three “permanent” real ales and only one guest pump as it knows what customers like. But however you crunch the numbers, it’s a highly challenging scenario for local brewers and many have responded by opening their own taprooms and ramping up direct sales.
Independent brewers group SIBA feels, rightly, that members are being squeezed out. But even if English pub tenants gained the legal right to sell one beer of their choosing, as in Scotland, you suspect the big brewers and pub companies would still have them over a barrel. By threatening to raise the price of their own beers, for example.
On Monday mornings, the phones of landlords running genuine free houses must glow hot with calls from hopeful breweries looking to get one of their beers on that elusive guest pump. These pubs and these breweries deserve our every support, but all too often we have to go to a brewery taproom or order home delivery to taste their outstanding beers.
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