Twilight Of An Empire?

The pubs reopening in July has been accompanied by price rises across the board ....

Pubs Reopen To Ecstatic Crowds, Ignoring Social Distancing in Soho London

.... justified by the additional costs of health safe-guarding, and the limited customer numbers. We all assume that the price hikes are not unjustified, and will disappear when the special conditions end ...

But in any case, fair enough, I guess, and most people can understand these hikes aren't price gouging ... Wetherspoons for example has put up the costs of its drinks by around 10p a unit, while its food increased by around 20p a meal, but these price increases will vary a little bit across the UK, depending on location.

This pub chain thus set the benchmark, and most other pubs chains set their increases bearing in mind Wethersoons figure, by around the same mark. But then there is the Sam Smith chain. Run by the elderly, and somewhat idiosyncratic Mr Humphrey Smith (of whom we have had reason to mention before) .... well his chain of around 300 (no one seems sure) pubs, are run to the beat of a very different drum.

Now at this point I must declare an interest .... I was a fairly regular customer in one of his pubs, although not solely in that pub. The attraction was the price of beer, which undercut the opposition and was therefore a good option if out for a few beers during the week. But that's a position that's now changed since the big reopen because .....

Steep Rice Rise Not Explained ....

...... Sam Smiths pubs, have hiked the beer prices, not by 10 pence, not by 50 pence, but by a whopping £1.00 or more a pint. So its best sellers such as Taddy Lager rose from £2.30 to £3.40 and a pint of Old Bitter rose to £3.00, and Sovereign Bitter went up in price from £2.04 to £3.00. So a nearly fifty per cent rise, that would add considerably to the cost of drinking regularly in their pubs .... whether this is a permanent state of affairs depends I suspect, on if Mr Smith thinks he can leave the beers at that price when the restrictions eventually end (and we all fervently hope that's sooner rather than later).

Mr Smith Uses A Wetherspoon's
To Make His Phone Calls

His Yorkshire based brewery had already banned TV's, Slot Machines, Music and Mobile Phones\Laptops (and swearing) from its pubs, ostensibly to encourage its drinkers to chat, rather than stare at their screens .. it has also banned card payments (the clue for this, TV's and Music, is that they all cost the brewery in some way). The chain therefore is the only one currently insisting on cash payments, while the others are all requesting card payment ... so sod government advice apparently.

There is also a history of landlord couples being evicted with 24 hours or less notice, and others have had odd instructions, such as The Hark to Topper pub in Oldham, which was ordered to close at 7pm every night for some infringement - he apparently does secret unannounced visits to his pubs, and has closed some on the spot, if some rule or other is observed to be being broken.

This type of arbitrary rule often leaves a number of its pubs without permanent management teams or even closed for months at a time ... For instance, recently The Agar Arms at Warthill, the Buckles Inn on the A64, the Blacksmiths Arms at Skelton and the Tankard at Rufforth were all advertised on Gumtree for 'live-in joint management couples' .... these are by no means the only pubs in the chain to be looking for management teams. The 'recruiter' for all the managers was described in the advert as 'private owner' ... aka Mr Smith we assume.

The Princess Louise In Holbourn London - A Typical Older Clientèle?

Now considering the fact that a lot of the chains customers (in the North at least) are older, and often on fixed benefit or pension incomes, then a fifty per cent price hike, making the cost as high or higher than many of the competitors (especially Wetherspoons), seems a very strange way to reward the loyal locals. But as we have mentioned before, Mr Smith runs his pub chain empire, rather like a squire of Tadcaster of old ruled his lands (The Smiths still own over a 1,000 acres of Yorkshire), and seems to brook no opposition to his rule.

The Bridge Row Was In The National Press ......

An example of this came in 2016, when he refused to allow a temporary bridge to be built on his land in Tadcaster, following the collapse of the main bridge in the town. This was because Mr Smiths brewery considered it a waste of public money, and that the original bridge collapse was a direct result of the local councils negligent maintenance ... calls by the Mayor, Local MP's and even allegedly the Prime Minister, for him to reconsider his refusal were rejected. The bad publicity was also ignored, and the temporary bridge was eventually built elsewhere in Tadcaster.

On the subject of the coronavirus beer price rise, whether he is forced to lower prices at some point by consumer resistance, or whether time proves him correct, and people will just accept the price rises, we shall see .... but at the age of 75, Mr Smith must realise that the clock is running down on his reign, so if this is his Götterdämmerung moment, or his decision to scorch the earth behind him as he leaves it, then we may see a crash and burn.

The Consumers Are Often Like Sheep ....

However, I suspect that Mr Smith has judged it about right, and the customers will just simply moan and accept it ..... I also suspect that he relies on the old adage that sheep always bleat!

Late Update: I finally broke last weekend, and ventured in to a couple of pubs. Now bearing in mind that I was aware that this post was due for publication, I specifically checked out a Witherspoon's and a Sam Smiths.

On Friday (24th), mid afternoon on a very sunny and hot day I visited a Sam Smiths with a 'beer garden'. I have visited this pub at this time before on a Friday, and its always had a number of customers both inside and out, all the while filling up as people finished work. This time however just two sat outside, two more were in the vault and three inside the main bar (one of whom is the local barfly who spends everyday in the pub ... so he doesn't really count). The beer was nice, but now £3.00 a pint, and the pub actually emptied while I was there, so after two pints I left, £6.00 lighter of pocket, and went elsewhere.

On Saturday (25th), at the same time as the day before, I went in the local Witherspoon's .... wow, what a difference. It was busy (but not totally full), with a multi queue system (so I was served immediately). I chose Ruddles (3.7% proof) at random .... knock me down with a feather, it was just £1.29 a pint. I got a table easily enough, and stayed for four pints (at a total cost of £5.16 ... I tipped the barman on top of this as well).

Like chalk and cheese. So to be fair, I wandered a little bit unsteadily (its been a while since I drank four pints!), down to the Sam Smiths again .... no one outside, and just two people inside on a Saturday afternoon. I didn't stop for a beer as I had had enough for my first weekends drinking, and I went home with my shopping.

Conclusion: If this is playing out across the Sam Smith empire (outside of London, where its presumably still a cheap pint), then Mr Smith may be in a spot of bother (although the value of all his pubs as real estate, must be many millions or even billions of pounds, so they are not going broke any time soon). I shall be gradually returning to some sort of regular pub activity over the coming few weeks, starting on Thursday (30th - where Witherspoons was full and Smiths empty again ....), but probably not very often at the Sam Smiths pubs.