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 ...

Its 1978 .... Again

Sam Smiths brewery run 318  .... err, 317 pubs in Britain

Sam Smiths Pub Chain Run By Humphrey Smith

... and are the fiefdom of Humphrey Smith, the scion of the Smith brewing dynasty.

How Fares The Empire?

 Now that the pubs are reopened ....

Beer Drinking Curbs Have Caused Some Desperation ......

... well sort of. 

Another One Bites The Dust?

I have not revisited the Samuel Smith empire for some time, but my attention was drawn to them again by an email from a Sam Smiths regular near Blackpool. In particular informing me to the plight of yet another of the brewing empires formerly popular (and apparently once thriving) pubs ...

The Victoria Hotel In Cleveleys Near Blackpool

.... The Victoria Hotel in Cleveleys, near Blackpool. Which according to the informant (who requested no name, or even a hint), has seemingly fallen on some harder times since the Covid lockdowns, when according to the email, recovery for this pub was slow.