UK Pub ownership 1974 - 2024

I spent yesterday afternoon scanning the BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025. Providing me with lots of fresh, juicy numbers. With which I'll be boring you over the coming days.

Kicking off with pub ownership. Which has been transformed since I started drinking. When the vast majority of pubs were owned by breweries.

I was going to say that it's a shame the numbers don't go back a little further. Then realised I did have some for the 1970s. Which confirm what I suspected: that brewery ownership of pubs peaked in the 1970s.

You can see that from 72% in 1974, brewery ownership fell to just 17% in 2024. While pubcos, which peaked with owning 55% of pubs in 2003, subsequently also saw it share fall, down to 33% in 2024. Which means the "independents", i.e. free houses, have increased from 28% to 50% between 1974 and 2024.

Though I'd take those independent figures with a pinch of salt. In the 1970s, quite a lot of "free houses" were effectively tied to brewers by loan ties or other agreements. Scottish & Newcastle, in particular, were keen on this sort of tie. Which, in Scotland, was a commoner sort of arrangement than outright ownership. 

Not sure how common alternative ties are currently. But I doubt all of those "independent" outlets are really free to buy beer from any brewery they fancy.

I sort of miss the days when every brewer's estate had its own particular livery and character. Unlike those of large pubcos. Though it wasn't quite so much fun when one brewer owned almost all the pubs. As was the case in my hometown of Newark. 

UK Pub ownership 1974 - 2024
Year	brewery owned		pubco		Independent		Total
	no.	%	no.	%	no.	%	no.
1974	52,131	72.00%	0	0.00%	20,273	28.00%	72,404
1980	49,000	71.01%	0	0.00%	20,000	28.99%	69,000
1990	43,500	68.50%	0	0.00%	20,000	31.50%	63,500
1991	29,500	47.43%	12,700	20.42%	20,000	32.15%	62,200
1992	25,700	41.72%	15,900	25.81%	20,000	32.47%	61,600
1993	26,200	42.95%	14,800	24.26%	20,000	32.79%	61,000
1994	26,000	42.83%	14,700	24.22%	20,000	32.95%	60,700
1995	22,200	36.39%	18,800	30.82%	20,000	32.79%	61,000
1996	22,300	36.68%	18,500	30.43%	20,000	32.89%	60,800
1997	21,900	36.14%	18,900	31.19%	19,800	32.67%	60,600
1998	19,700	32.30%	21,700	35.57%	19,600	32.13%	61,000
1999	20,400	33.17%	21,700	35.28%	19,400	31.54%	61,500
2000	11,200	18.42%	30,400	50.00%	19,200	31.58%	60,800
2001	10,100	16.64%	31,600	52.06%	19,000	31.30%	60,700
2002	9,800	16.31%	31,500	52.41%	18,800	31.28%	60,100
2003	8,300	13.97%	32,500	54.71%	18,600	31.31%	59,400
2004	8,900	15.08%	31,700	53.73%	18,400	31.19%	59,000
2005	9,400	16.04%	31,000	52.90%	18,200	31.06%	58,600
2006	9,400	16.15%	30,400	52.23%	18,400	31.62%	58,200
2007	9,400	16.35%	30,000	52.17%	18,100	31.48%	57,500
2008	9,100	15.99%	28,900	50.79%	18,900	33.22%	56,900
2009	8,900	15.92%	28,400	50.81%	18,600	33.27%	55,900
2010	8,700	15.70%	24,200	43.68%	22,500	40.61%	55,400
2011	8,500	15.54%	22,800	41.68%	23,400	42.78%	54,700
2012	9,300	17.29%	19,800	36.80%	24,700	45.91%	53,800
2013	9,300	17.71%	19,000	36.19%	24,200	46.10%	52,500
2014	9,800	18.88%	17,500	33.72%	24,600	47.40%	51,900
2015	9,400	18.50%	16,900	33.27%	24,500	48.23%	50,800
2016	9,400	18.69%	16,900	33.60%	24,000	47.71%	50,300
2017	11,000	22.75%	14,700	30.40%	22,650	46.85%	48,350
2018	10,600	22.27%	14,200	29.83%	22,800	47.90%	47,600
2019	9,900	20.97%	13,900	29.45%	23,400	49.58%	47,200
2020	8,100	17.31%	15,600	33.33%	23,100	49.36%	46,800
2021	8,100	17.48%	15,300	33.01%	22,950	49.51%	46,350
2022	7,950	17.34%	15,250	33.26%	22,650	49.40%	45,850
2023	7,750	17.09%	14,950	32.97%	22,650	49.94%	45,350
2024	7,750	17.22%	14,700	32.67%	22,550	50.11%	45,000
Sources:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2025, page 69.
“The Brewing Industry, a Guide to Historical Records” by Lesley Hammons & Alison Turton.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1932 Youngs PAB

A bit of a change today. With a recipe from the 1930s reather than the Golden Age of UK brewing (1880 to 1914). 

The weaker of Youngs two Pale Ales looks very much like a post-WW II Ordinary Bitter. And a beer which, in most of the interwar period, would have sold for 5d per pint. Though in 1931 to 1933 would have sold for 6d per pint.

There a few interesting features to the grist. I’ve simplified the base malt, which in the original had three elements: pale malt, PA malt and a small quantity of enzymic malt. PA malt being the best quality pale malt.

Most interesting is the lack of any type of adjunct. Which is unusual. A few other brewers – Whitbread, for example – but that was very much the exception. Most brewers employed an adjunct, usually in the form of flaked maize.

There were three types of hops. East Kent from the 1931 harvest and two types of Kent hops, both from 1930. 

1932 Youngs PAB
pale malt	6.25 lb	83.33%
malt extract	0.250 lb	3.33%
No. 1 invert sugar	1.00 lb	13.33%
Fuggles 120 min	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 min	1.00 oz
Goldings 30 min	1.00 oz
OG	1036
FG	1008
ABV	3.70
Apparent attenuation	77.78%
IBU	40
SRM	5
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	174º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	WLP002 English Ale

 

Chapman grists in 1880

Time for the ingredients. Of which there aren’t all that many.

We’ll begin with the malts.  Only three of them. And two of those, black and crystal malt, only appear in the Stout. All the other beers only contain base pale malt.

It’s an interesting Stout grist. Usually a three-malt Stout grist would be pale, brown and black malt. While here it’s pale, black and crystal malt. With quite a lot of the latter. Not sure that I’ve ever seen a grist quite like it.

Total malt content averages out at 72%.  Which is on the low side. On the other hand, there are no adjuncts. But the sugar content is high. At 33%, the proportion in the two Mild Ales was particularly high. 

Chapman grists in 1880
Beer	Style	pale malt	black malt	crystal malt	total malt	fructose	Pale Ref.	total sugar
X	Mild	66.67%			66.67%		33.33%	33.33%
XX	Mild	66.67%			66.67%		33.33%	33.33%
XXX	Stock Ale	78.95%			78.95%	21.05%		21.05%
AK	Pale Ale	77.14%			77.14%	22.86%		22.86%
PA	Pale Ale	69.23%			69.23%	30.77%		30.77%
S	Stout	53.33%	6.67%	13.33%	73.33%		26.67%	26.67%
	Average				72.00%			28.00%
Source:
Chapman brewing record.

 

Mitch Steele interview part two

The second part of my interview with Mitch Steele is now available. In it, Mitch discusses his move from Anheuser Busch to Stone and the creative freedom he had there. He finishes by talking about his time at New Realm.

Chapman beers in 1880

Based in Brighton on the south coast, Chapman didn’t have a particularly large range by late 19th-century standards. Just six beers. Two Mild Ales, two Pale Ales, a Stock Ale and a Stout. A pretty minimal set.

X Ale, the standard has a reasonable enough gravity 1051º. Which, coupled with a high degree of attenuation, leaves it just about 6% ABV. Its sibling XX Ale isn’t quite so highly attenuated, but still weighs in at 7% ABV. Happy days for a Mild drinker like me.

The two Mild Ales weren’t parti-gyled, as is obvious from the higher hopping rate per quarter of the XX Ale. Which is almost double that of X Ale. Which, with just four pounds of hops per quarter (336 lbs) of malt, is lightly hopped, even for a Mild Ale.

Moving onto the two Pale Ales, they fall quite nicely into the Bitter and Best Bitter categories. AK has the classic Light Bitter gravity of 1045º. While PA, at 1059º looks very much like a full-strength Pale Ale.

The hopping rates of 10 lbs and 12 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt are about what you would expect for Pale Ales. 

Both Pale Ales have very high degrees of fermentation, well above 80% apparent. Combined with the fairly high hopping rate, must have resulted in beers that seemed pretty bitter. Especially given that they were dry-hopped.

I’m not totally what XXX was sold as, not having been able to find a Chapman price list. I’ve gone with Stock Ale. It could also have been Old Ale. The same thing, really, I suppose. The hopping rate of almost 11 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt implies that it was genuinely aged. Which would have knocked down the FG even more.

Finally, we come to the Stout. Which, at just 1064º, isn’t all that “stout”. And is weaker than an equivalent London beer. The hopping rate of jut 5.7 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt is also lower than you would find in a London Stout. 

Chapman beers in 1880
Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	dry hops (oz / barrel)
X	Mild	1051.2	1006.4	5.94	87.57%	4.00	0.94	0.00
XX	Mild	1067.9	1015.2	6.96	77.55%	7.00	2.18	0.00
XXX	Stock Ale	1067.0	1012.5	7.22	81.40%	10.71	3.16	16.00
AK	Pale Ale	1045.4	1005.5	5.28	87.80%	10.00	2.17	5.87
PA	Pale Ale	1059.3	1009.1	6.63	84.58%	12.00	3.43	6.86
S	Stout	1064.3	1021.1	5.72	67.24%	5.65	1.73	0.00
Source:
Chapman brewing record.

 

Adnams 2nd June 1913 XX mashing scheme

The final process is the most important one: mashing.

Surprise, surprise – it’s an underlet mash. A process beloved of English brewers both large and small. With the underlet raising the temperature of the mash by a couple of degrees. It’s not recorded in the brewing record, but there would have been a rest of 20 to 30 minutes between the initial infusion and the underlet.

After the underlet, there would have been another stand, probably of around two hours. Then the sparges would have begun. As was usual, the temperature of the water was reduced as the process progressed. 

And that's Adnams done. At least the 1913 iterations of their beers.  I could go back and do an analysis of their 1879 beers as well. Or 1890. 

Anyone interested in that? I could spin another half dozen posts out of that. Or are you totally fed up of Adnams?

Adnams 2nd June 1913 XX mashing scheme
operation	barrels	strike heat	initial heat	final heat
mash	14	160º F	149.5º F
underlet	0.5	200º F		150.5º F
sparge 1	25	165º F	149º F
sparge 2	26.5	160º F		153º F
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 1 held at the brewery.

 

Let's Brew - 1913 Adnams PA

Brewed in far smaller quantities than the Mild Ales was Adnams Pale Ale. Clearly, it was very much a minority drink.

Like the Mild Ales, the gravity has fallen a bit since 1890, down 4º. Though it’s still far stronger than their other standard beers. Then again. Both X and XX Ale were pretty weedy beers.

The only real change in the grist is the addition of some flaked maize. Other than that, it remains just base malt and No. 1 invert sugar. Though there were two types of base malt. Half was made from English barley and half from Californian. All malted in the UK, of course.

The hops are pretty diverse. Oregon from the 1911 harvest, two types of Kent from 1912 and Saaz, also from 1912. The dry hops were a combination of Saaz from 1912 and Hallertau from 1911.

My guess is that this was a semi-stock Pale Ale, aged for two or three months. 

1913 Adnams PA
pale malt	10.00 lb	83.33%
flaked maize	0.75 lb	6.25%
No. 1 invert sugar	1.25 lb	10.42%
Cluster 165 mins	1.00 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	1.00 oz
Saaz 30 mins	1.00 oz
Hallertau dry hops	0.67 oz
Saaz dry hops	0.33 oz
OG	1056
FG	1011
ABV	5.95
Apparent attenuation	80.36%
IBU	41
SRM	6
Mash at	153º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	165 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold

 

Adnams boiling and fermentation in 1913

Time to crack on with some processes. Beginning with boiling and fermentation.

With just a single copper, boiling was a fairly simple affair at Adnams. The Mild Ales underwent a boil of 1.75 hours. All the other beers got 15 minutes more. Nothing much more to say, really. All pretty normal.

The pitching temperatures are all around 60º F. Which is what I always think of as the standard temperature for pitching. Perhaps a degree or two lower for strong beers.

Similarly, the maximum fermentation temperatures are all within a degree or so of 70º F. Higher in the stronger beers, lower in the weaker ones. Nothing odd at all.

The normalcy theme continues with the length of fermentation. Which, for every beer except PA, was seven days. About as long as you would expect, if the brewer wasn’t in a rush.

Adnams boiling and fermentation in 1913
Beer	Style	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp	length of fermen-tation (days)
X	Mild Ale	1.75	60º F	69.75º F	7
XX	Mild Ale	1.75	60.25º F	68.25º F	7
BLB	Pale Ale	2	60.5º F	69.5º F	7
PA	Pale Ale	2	60º F	70.25º F	8
BS	Stout	2	60º F	70.75º F	7
DS	Stout	2	59.75º F	71.25º F	7
Tally Ho	Old Ale	2	60º F	71.25º F	7
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 1 held at the brewery.

 

 

 

Mitch Steele part one

The first part of my interview with Mitch Steele, former brewer at Anheuser Busch. This covers his time studying at UC Davis, working at a winery,  his first brewing job at the San Andreas brewpub and his move to Anheuser Busch.

Adnams hops in 1913

Quite a few different types of hops were employed at Adnams. Seven in total, four of them English and four foreign. All from either the 1911 and 1912 harvests. So nothing ridiculously old.

All of the beers, other than X Ale, contain at least three types of hops. With BS and Tally Ho both having five different types.

A majority of the English hops were from Worcester, the rest either from Kent or not specified. Nothing unusual about that, as Kent and Worcester were two of the largest producers of hops. And producers of top-quality hops.

It’s interesting that few of the foreign hops were sourced from the USA. Which was by far the largest supplier of hop imports to the UK. Rather, the foreign hops mostly come from Central Europe. Namely Saaz and Württemberg. Regions well known for good quality hops.

Saaz is, in fact, the second most common type of hop. Appearing in all the beers, other than the two Mild Ales. And it also appears as a dry hop in BLB and Tally Ho. It’s a sign of the high regard of UK brewers for Saaz that it was being used as a dry hop. 

Adnams hops in 1913
Beer	Style	hop 1	hop 2	hop 3	hop 4	hop 5	dry hop 1	dry hop 2
X	Mild Ale	Eng 1911	Eng 1912
XX	Mild Ale	B n B	Wür 1911	Wo 1912
BLB	Pale Ale	Wo 1912	Sz 1912	Kt 1911			Sz 1912	Wo 1912
PA	Pale Ale	Sz 1912	Wo 1912	Kt 1911
BS	Stout	Wür 1911	Or 1911	Wo 1912	Sz 1912	Kt 1911
DS	Stout	Wür 1911	Wo 1912	Sz 1912
Tally Ho	Old Ale	Wür 1911	Or 1911	Wo 1912	Sz 1912	Kt 1911	Sz 1912	Wo 1912
Key:
Wür. = Württemberg
Wo = Worcester
Eng = English
Or = Oregon
Kt = Kent
Sz = Saaz
Source:
Adnams brewing record Book 1 held at the brewery.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1913 Adnams X Ale

Moving forward in time a couple of decades, we find a new version of X Ale. Which looks very much like a modern Mild. And is not very typical of the style pre-WW I.

A gravity of just 1033º was low even for a Mild Ale brewed way out in the sticks. Even a very high degree of attenuation leaves it not much over 3.5% ABV

Simple is an understatement when it comes to the recipe. Just base malt, sugar and caramel colouring. And really just one type of base malt. I can’t imagine that it was a very full-bodied beer. That’s about all I can say. I assume that the caramel had a dark colour as it was called “tintose”.

Two types of hops. Worcester from the 1911 harvest and English from 1912. Hopped at a puny rate of 3.75 lbs per quarter (336 lbs) of malt.

My guess is that a Mild like this would have been consumed just a couple of days after racking. 

1913 Adnams X Ale
mild malt	5.75 lb	84.31%
glucose	1.00 lb	14.66%
caramel 5000 SRM	0.07 lb	1.03%
Fuggles 105 mins	0.33 oz
Fuggles 60 mins	0.33 oz
Fuggles 30 mins	0.33 oz
OG	1033
FG	1005.5
ABV	3.64
Apparent attenuation	83.33%
IBU	13
SRM	23
Mash at	151º F
Sparge at	165º F
Boil time	105 minutes
pitching temp	60º F
Yeast	WLP025 Southwold