Pub boycotts Samuel Smith's following unpopular decision to block temporary bridge on its land

By Emily Sutherland

- Last updated on GMT

The Stone Trough, Kirkham Bridge, will no longer stock Sam Smith products
The Stone Trough, Kirkham Bridge, will no longer stock Sam Smith products

Related tags Sam smith Tadcaster

The owners of a Yorkshire pub have refused to sell beer brewed by pub company and brewer Samuel Smith's after it refused to allow a temporary footbridge to be built on its land following the Boxing Day floods.

Andrew Whitney and Martin Bridge, who co-own the Stone Trough Inn, in Kirkham Bridge, said that as a local business, they ‘couldn’t support a Yorkshire business that doesn’t support its local people’.

Whitney told the York Press​ that the pub stocked products made in Yorkshire, including Sam Smith's, in a bid to support the area, but would now stop selling the brewery’s beer.

A petition calling on Sam Smith's to reverse its decision has been signed almost 3,000 times.

Tadcaster has been divided since the ancient Tadcaster Bridge over the River Wharfe collapsed in the recent floods.

Local MP Nigel Adams labelled the brewery’s decision not to grant permission for the temporary bridge as ‘outrageous’ and ‘completely contrary to the community spirit shown by town residents and businesses since the flooding’.

However, Sam Smith's argued that North Yorkshire County Council had failed to carry out proper maintenance and that the temporary bridge was ‘a wasteful proposed public expenditure, a typical short-term PR based soundbite from central and local government.’ 

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