New Greystones pub

[Glennis 15]

I wasn't referring to the older generation don't think many went in anymore as they where intimidated by the crew as you put it yes I do agree they need to stamp out the dealing

 

Gosh, are we talking about the Greystones here. I thought there was a 'funny' crowd hanging around outside over the last few years, but thought they were local folk.

[jamesogt 11]

From this weeks Publican.....

 

When Thornbridge wanted a free of tie lease to sell its own beers it went to Enterprise Inns with a plan.....

 

One doesn’t often hear the names Rupert Murdoch and Enterprise Inns mentioned in the same breath.

 

Both represent among the largest of their kind and both, according to the award-winning Thornbridge Brewery, are changing the way they operate in order to respond to the rapidly changing demands of the markets in which they function.

 

In Murdoch’s case it’s about moving quickly to outwit his media rivals. With Enterprise it’s a matter of operating innovatively in altered market circumstances.

 

Certainly things for the UK’s second largest pubco are different now, compared with 2008 when Jim Harrison, Thornbridge’s founder, and his fellow director Simon Webster, approached Enterprise to see if it would bite on an idea the pair had.

 

 

Selling its own beer

 

Based near the Derbyshire town of Bakewell, the award-winning brewer – which counts the increasingly popular Jaipur cask ale as one of its best sellers – already leased two pubs from Enterprise, says Harrison. But it wanted to be able to sell its own beers across the board, rather than the limited range its existing lease deals allowed.

 

“At the Cricket Inn at Totley, near Sheffield, we sold four of our beers, but at the Inn at Troway, also near Sheffield, we could only sell two of our beers and two from Enterprise’s list. The reason the Troway was underperforming was because it wasn’t a Thornbridge pub. We wanted control,” says Harrison.

 

The pair identified the Highcliffe pub in Ecclesall, a leafy part of Sheffield, as somewhere they could do business. It was where Harrison drank as a younger man, but it had fallen on distinctly hard times, with a string of successive – but not successful – lessees.

 

“I knew the area and what the pub stood for,” he says, “but it wasn’t a place the local community wanted to go. It was intimidating.”

 

So a call was placed with Enterprise to see if some arrangement could be reached whereby the brewer could take on the pub, but sell its own cask ales without hindrance. Or tie.

 

“It took two years to get the message higher and higher up, but the marketplace was changing and they recognised they could do with specialised operators like us,” says Harrison.

 

“We wanted food in the pub but the prime focus was going to be our beer. We wanted to market the place as a Thornbridge Brewery pub. And we needed exclusivity to make it pay.”

 

 

Two years ago Enterprise “didn’t rush at the proposition”, he says. However, slowly but surely over time the brewer

 

was able to make its case. Eventually a deal was done whereby Thornbridge agreed to pay an undisclosed monthly tie release fee on its cask ale, which means it can sell as much of the stuff as it can pour into glasses.

 

The pub opened on November 4 and sold more than 3,000 pints in its first 48 hours of trading and its performance has remained encouraging. A win/win for everyone then?

 

“We think we’ve struck a very reasonable deal,” says Harrison. “We’re still tied on keg products – where we get a good discount – but we’re not tied on wines, spirits, soft drinks or particularly on bottled beers, which is important because as a brewer we want to highlight world beers. Frankly, the selection offered by the big pubcos is pathetic.”

 

 

Accommodating pubco

 

Harrison said Enterprise was accommodating when it came to Thornbridge’s input into the look and feel of the pub. “They gave us access to their architect and we agreed on the sort of interior look we were after. Part of the deal was also that they stumped up for the fixtures and fittings, which they’ve annualised on our rent over the first three years,” he says.

 

The pubco ended up paying around £150,000 to refurbish the Highcliffe, renamed the Greystones, with Thornbridge putting in around £20,000. Enterprise divisional director Duncan Marsden said the level of money the company pumped into the deal “shows our commitment to this type of model”.

 

Marsden said the co-operation had led to a “quality finished pub, delivered on time and on budget – a tremendous success for all involved”.

 

Emboldened, Harrison and his colleagues are turning their attention to the terms of the other leases they have with Enterprise, which they hope they can change to a Greystones-type model.

 

Thornbridge isn’t stopping there either. “There could be other Enterprise lessees who are struggling and might want a partner like us," says Harrison. "We can pay their tie release fee in return for them exclusively stocking our cask ale. We’re confident people will go to a pub to buy and drink our beer.”

 

While it’s clearly early days Harrison believes the deal he and his team has struck with Enterprise stacks up for both sides. He gets his beers in a pub he can manage, hands-on, while Enterprise sees a previously tired and rundown asset given a new lease of life. Literally.

 

Harrison sums it up thus: “I think they’ve recognised that a massive number of their pubs are going nowhere fast and they can benefit from small, decent operators. And small brewers are often the right people to deal with.”

[Fudbeer 12]

Very interesting.

 

Could be the way forward.

 

Sounds like a deal designed to make the place work rather the extract as much money as possible from the tennant.

[Bladesman 10]

Good pub and it has alright prices for drinks.

 

Downsides are the lighting (seriously it is rather blinding) and the fact they barely offer anything in the way of food.

 

It will still do well I reckon and I think may attract the customers that used to goto the prince of wales.

[verona 10]

Been in this afternoon. Still a few locals giving the, "IT'S OUR PUB LOOK!"

 

It doesn't have the warm welcoming feel I was hoping for. It's far too bright and it needs curtains at the windows.

 

Will try it again on a Friday or Saturday.

[Blodsy 10]

Been in this afternoon. Still a few locals giving the, "IT'S OUR PUB LOOK!"

 

It doesn't have the warm welcoming feel I was hoping for. It's far too bright and it needs curtains at the windows.

 

Will try it again on a Friday or Saturday.

 

I was also in there this afternoon and didn't get any feeling from anyone that 'this is our pub'. Really enjoyed it and think that thornbridge have done a great job on the place. loved the real coal fire and the beers were also superb.

[EccyBabe 10]

I've been in the Greystones a few times since it opened and it's been busy with a great atmosphere each time - the music isn't really intrusive 'cos it's in the other half of the pub. Good job too, I thought someone had fallen into the piano but apparently it was jazz night.

 

I'm def going to do my bit to support a local business by drinking many pints in there. I like the green paint too, can any paint geeks tell me what shades they are, my attic needs painting.

[Nagel 10]

I think this place could get very popular as there will be a lot of ex Prince of Wales customers looking for somewhere new to drink.

 

I'll definitely take a look, but really I'm hoping that the Prince of Wales fails as a restaurant and becomes more of a pub again. We went once and it's way overpriced for the quality of the food.

 

Good to see that the music nights at the Greystones are to be reinstated too. I remember going to see John Martyn play there when it was the Highcliffe, but that was many many years ago in the mid seventies.

[ray ramone 10]

Are the bands that are booked recording artists, or can anyone perform?

We just started up our old punk rock band from 1979 last year as a laugh for the bass players birthday, and somehow the locals here in Harworth liked us.

Funny thing is they all hated us back then!

We play original and covers of 70s punk songs..plus an 80s one called Nelly the Elephant originally by the Toy Dolls. RAY

[EdnaKrabappe 14]

Does anyone know what time the quiz starts tonight?

[Rich 12]

Between half 9 and 10 probably, that's when most pub quizzes start.

[crookesey 636]

Between half 9 and 10 probably, that's when most pub quizzes start.

 

Don't go Rich, it's in S11 so must by definition be full of snobs, you wouldn't be comfortable.