Pope takes a tumble

With the stock market still happy to toast traditional pub-owning brewers, I wonder if the Pope family, which for years successfully conducted the Eldridge Pope brewing group, regrets retiring from the beerage. Their company, like other famous old brewers, decided to concentrate on retailing which, it must have reasoned, offered more promising rewards. Well, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Eldridge Pope, with an estate of around 175 managed and tenanted pubs, has found the going exceedingly tough in recent years. Its trading displays have been weak ­ crystallised by a £9.5m interim loss ­ and its new chief executive, Susan Barratt, the third incumbent in recent years, felt obliged to promise a "back to basics" policy. Eldridge Pope has been wounded in the high street drinks war. And judging by the experience of others, its 23 trendy Toad outlets are unlikely to have prospered in the heatwave. Still, its traditional pubs should have built on their earlier success. With the exception of its name, the company is no longer recognisable as the once proud Dorchester brewer which jealously guarded its brewing heritage. Even in those heady days some awkward tendencies were evident. It caught a bad cold in computers and lost heavily when it ventured into modern, upmarket hotels. But its brewery and pubs allowed it to overcome such setbacks. For years control was vested in the Pope family through specially created shares. If my memory serves me correctly, you had to be a Pope to own any. But family influence weakened and the brewer arrived on the stock market, I think, some 20 years ago. The decision, to abandon brewing surprised the industry. But a quick retail build-up was undertaken and for a time it looked as though Eldridge Pope, combining old-style outlets with trendy high-street bars, had a rewarding recipe. Then trading deteriorated. Eldridge Pope is now seen as yet another hard-pressed retail takeover candidate. Earlier this year it had unsuccessful talks with a number of bidders, almost certainly the Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries and probably Greene King too. Since then CI Traders, owning Jersey's Ann Street Brewery, had a long hard look. It did not bid but reserved the right to change its mind. And master publican Michael Cannon hovers. He used to run a brewery near Eldridge Pope ­ JA Devenish of Weymouth. After a lifetime behind the bar he has a few pubs in and around Oxford. Probably he has time on his hands. With a 12.85% stake, Mr Cannon is unlikely to be a passive investor. He will try to obtain control ­ or walk away. Ms Barratt faces a long hard slog to get the old brewer celebrating again. With a stock market capitalisation of £42m and a relatively small mixed estate, Eldridge Pope looks vulnerable. A bid would put it out of its misery but deny Ms Barratt the chance to prove there's life in the old dog yet.