https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2026/01/26/new-micropub-set-to-open-in-eltham/

In The Rising Sun on @Off_it’s recommendation (I think). The Guinness is indeed very good. 

LoOkOuT said:

In The Rising Sun on @Off_it’s recommendation (I think). The Guinness is indeed very good. 

Ahh man, if i'd seen this earlier I would've come and joined you - was in the office today which is about 5 mins round the corner!

LoOkOuT said:

Next time!

I don't get over to Bermuda very often!

Were you wearing your shorts?

Bars close and hundreds lose jobs as US firm buys Brewdog in £33m deal

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05v0p1d0peo

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

More broadly, independent brewers in the UK face real market access problems: many pubs are tied to large brewers or pub groups, which limits shelf and tap space for smaller producers and makes survival harder. Industry groups and reports have warned this is squeezing independents

mistrollingin62 said:

Not sure if already mentioned but Weatherspoons opening in Alicante airport next month.

Sounds horrific, Wetherspoons clientele on their way back from Alicante 

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

That’s a very simplistic view and, if that really was their model to be profitable, a very naive business plan.  The brewers with pub chains stock/sell their own beers/drinks and don’t give up space to promote and make profits for other brewers. Brewdog certainly don’t stock other brewers drinks, but they do have their products in most supermarkets to boost sales. They overextended themselves, sold out to PE and had a co-founder who fell from grace quite spectacularly and dumped on his own “ethos”.

Brewdog founder admits 'many mistakes' as hundreds lose jobs in sale

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cze00ddyw27o

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

That’s a very simplistic view and, if that really was their model to be profitable, a very naive business plan.  The brewers with pub chains stock/sell their own beers/drinks and don’t give up space to promote and make profits for other brewers. Brewdog certainly don’t stock other brewers drinks, but they do have their products in most supermarkets to boost sales. They overextended themselves, sold out to PE and had a co-founder who fell from grace quite spectacularly and dumped on his own “ethos”.

Brewdog definitely have beers from other brewers on tap in their pubs. 

Barman refused us further service at Brewdog Canary Wharf after a pal (and former poster on here) casually wandered back from the khazis and eagerly informed about the massive log he’d just said goodbye to, so sod em 

se9addick said:

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

That’s a very simplistic view and, if that really was their model to be profitable, a very naive business plan.  The brewers with pub chains stock/sell their own beers/drinks and don’t give up space to promote and make profits for other brewers. Brewdog certainly don’t stock other brewers drinks, but they do have their products in most supermarkets to boost sales. They overextended themselves, sold out to PE and had a co-founder who fell from grace quite spectacularly and dumped on his own “ethos”.

Brewdog definitely have beers from other brewers on tap in their pubs. 

Sorry…I’ll clarify. They don’t sell beers made by the mainstream breweries who own pub chains.  That seemed to be the point being made previously not being able to get their beers in “ordinary pubs” owned by those big breweries.

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

That’s a very simplistic view and, if that really was their model to be profitable, a very naive business plan.  The brewers with pub chains stock/sell their own beers/drinks and don’t give up space to promote and make profits for other brewers. Brewdog certainly don’t stock other brewers drinks, but they do have their products in most supermarkets to boost sales. They overextended themselves, sold out to PE and had a co-founder who fell from grace quite spectacularly and dumped on his own “ethos”.

Its not a simplistic view, its literally fact you can research yourself. Admittedly they were somewhat naive but they set out with the best of intentions but thats part of the issue when ypu put yourself on a pedestal, plenty of people will kick you when you make a mistake. Its worth noting that co-founder had nothing to do woth the decision to sell as he had already been ousted.

Radostanradical said:

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

That’s a very simplistic view and, if that really was their model to be profitable, a very naive business plan.  The brewers with pub chains stock/sell their own beers/drinks and don’t give up space to promote and make profits for other brewers. Brewdog certainly don’t stock other brewers drinks, but they do have their products in most supermarkets to boost sales. They overextended themselves, sold out to PE and had a co-founder who fell from grace quite spectacularly and dumped on his own “ethos”.

It’s not a simplistic view, it’s literally fact you can research yourself. Admittedly they were somewhat naive but they set out with the best of intentions but thats part of the issue when ypu put yourself on a pedestal, plenty of people will kick you when you make a mistake. It’s worth noting that co-founder had nothing to do woth the decision to sell as he had already been ousted.

Just over half the pubs in the UK (24,500) are owned by pub companies/breweries - including Brewdog themselves remember. That’s who Brewdog were trying to get to sell their beers.  The competition.  You’re essentially asking the Charlton club shop to move some of their stock out and sell Millwall stuff…and then give them the profits for the privilege of doing so  🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

TelMc32 said:

Radostanradical said:

Happy to educate some of my fellow lifers and followers on the situation with Brewdog.

Its very easy to throw barbs (and with the threshold being pretty low on here some may consider them witty) at the brewery without full context.

They were persured for quite a while by the large international drinks companies for some time for a purchase but tried as hard as they could to stay true to their ethos. What hasnt been reported about is the fact that they were being squeezed out of the putting their goods in regular pubs by those same organisations when they wouldnt sell.

So in laymans terms -

Pub A has a deal with a brewery owned by a massive organisation.

Brewdog asks pub A to stock their drink, pub A refuses or offers incredibly unfair terms for stocking.

Price of brewdog drops as a company.

The major brewerys have a cartel on the market whixh will drive out independents who dont play the game.

That’s a very simplistic view and, if that really was their model to be profitable, a very naive business plan.  The brewers with pub chains stock/sell their own beers/drinks and don’t give up space to promote and make profits for other brewers. Brewdog certainly don’t stock other brewers drinks, but they do have their products in most supermarkets to boost sales. They overextended themselves, sold out to PE and had a co-founder who fell from grace quite spectacularly and dumped on his own “ethos”.

It’s not a simplistic view, it’s literally fact you can research yourself. Admittedly they were somewhat naive but they set out with the best of intentions but thats part of the issue when ypu put yourself on a pedestal, plenty of people will kick you when you make a mistake. It’s worth noting that co-founder had nothing to do woth the decision to sell as he had already been ousted.

Just over half the pubs in the UK (24,500) are owned by pub companies/breweries - including Brewdog themselves remember. That’s who Brewdog were trying to get to sell their beers.  The competition.  You’re essentially asking the Charlton club shop to move some of their stock out and sell Millwall stuff…and then give them the profits for the privilege of doing so  🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

There are 21,500 Free Houses, but then you’re essentially trying to do trade deals with individual pubs. 

My family have owned pubs in Ireland and managed them here. Very different models, but if Brewdog were really trying to prop up their business by getting other “tied” pubs to sell their beers for them, it was never going to work. 

As for the co-owner, he was still a 22% shareholder (TSG 23% and the other co-owner Dickie at 21%). TSG pushed for the sale, but needed the co-owners to agree to it as the “punk investors” certainly wouldn’t vote for it.  James Watt did well enough from the original PE deal, sharing £100m with Dickie.  The Covid years and then the revelations about his behaviour and how he treated his staff ended up creating a toxic atmosphere and a broken business. 

Nice confident stat‑drop, pity it collapses if you check the definitions. The UK pub estate isn’t a single, neat number; depending on the dataset you pick it’s roughly 29,000 businesses (business registers) up to ~38,600 outlets for England and Wales in recent counts, so throwing around precise shares without defining your terms is meaningless.