Year of the Dragon

Related tags Brains Pubs Beer

Sponsorship of the Welsh rugby side during its Grand Slam triumph put Brains well and truly in the spotlight. Adrian Tierney-Jones takes a closer...

Sponsorship of the Welsh rugby side during its Grand Slam triumph put Brains well and truly in the spotlight. Adrian Tierney-Jones takes a closer look at the Cardiff-based brewer

When Gavin Henson and his Welsh team-mates broke the hearts of their rivals during their recent Six Nations grand slam victory, long established Cardiff brewer SA Brain had every reason to share in the national joy. Not only is it said that a good rugby win in Cardiff is worth a week's sales in one day, but the fact that Brains is the official sponsor of the team wasn't a bad result either.

"Yes, we timed that one nicely," chuckles the company's chief executive, Scott Waddington. "This is our first year sponsoring Wales. Thesponsorship was up for grabs and the Welsh Rugby Union came to see us to put forward their plans. It was a big one to consider and initially wecouldn't meet their aspirations, but I think they genuinely wanted us. We were the first Welsh company on the shirt."

Brains started brewing back in 1882 when the chapel still ruled and going dry was a distinctpossibility. Thankfully, despite the best efforts of the likes of Lloyd George and others, that didn't happen. Brains also survived the tempestuous buyouts and closures that swept through the Valleys in the '50s and '60s.

Now the brewery has evolved hand-in-hand with Cardiff's growth in confidence and sophistication since devolution.

At the turn of the Millennium, the brewery moved out of its original home into the nearbyformer Bass brewery, where another local favourite, Hancock's, was produced (a beer Brains now contract brews). The company left the Old Brewery to be developed into a mixture of open-air piazza and trendy warehouse homes. Brains also maintains a presence with its stunningly original bar the Yard.

"I arrived here four years ago," says Waddington, who came from Century Inns, "and found the business in good shape but there were major opportunities to move forward. What we put in place was a strategy to be the pre-eminent suppliers of drinks to our area and also the primary hospitality company. We have now achieved that."

The Brains brand was invested in and smart new ads were launched. Over the last two years an annual investment of £12m has gone into the pub estate. "We have invested in our people as well," adds Waddington.

Earlier in the year Brains purchased 27 pubs from Innkeeper Wales, taking its estate to more than 250 pubs, of which roughly 110 are managed and 140 are tenanted. This includes the 34 pubs that the brewery recently announced would be transferring from managed to leasehold. Isabelle Whitehouse, head of tenanted and leasehold business, was quoted as saying: "We are looking for talented, positive-thinking professionals to take on these new leaseholds. We will be giving a long-term commitment to the licensees, giving them the security and commitment they need to develop a successful and fulfilling business."

Wandering around Cardiff, there doesn't seem to be particularly strong branding of the Brains pub estate, apart from a bold display of the name with accompanying red dragon. However, the pubs are big business. Recently-published figures showed 2003/2004 turnover of £108.1m, up from the previous year's £96m. It's not surprising that the biggest share of it comes from the pubs.

"The pub is king from our perspective and we make sure it is operating as best as it can, given the location, the marketplace and the occasion we are going for," says Waddington. "We have a very good core of community pubs, which will include Valley locals right through to quality taverns, but we also stretch right through to food destinations."

The primary focus of pubs is in South Wales, yet Brains' houses can be found as far north as Aberystwyth and over the border in Somerset and Wiltshire. "Our strategy with pubs has been to pull thefocus back into Wales," says Waddington, "to consolidate our position in Wales, hence the Innkeeper deal, which was a perfect fit. But if we saw pubs that fitted our template and were in a complementary geography outside Wales, for instance the M4/M5 corridor, then clearly we would look to buy them."

Brains is also known for its rich, malty cask ales, but it comes as a surprise to discover that out of the 150,000 barrels of beer it produces each year (which includes contract brewing), cask ale is in a minority, with smooth beers making up more than 60% of production. The South Wales market is highly partial to brewery-conditioned beer, after all All Bright (no longer produced) was a big favourite. Brains is, however, doggedly devoted to the cask-ale market. It has worked with Cask Marque from the beginning and is a member of the Beer Academy. It also runs in-house initiatives to promote staff knowledge of beer. Virtually all its pubs offer cask beer and its seasonal beers have been a hit.

"We are a committed cask-ale producer and brought in our seasonal beers three years ago to bring variety into both our own estate and to offer something different to wholesalers," says Waddington. "Wales' national saint is celebrated bySt David's Day, a light, refreshing spring beer, while the national sport gets Bread of Heaven. This is a very different beer from what Brains aficionados are used to. Bread of Heaven is much hoppier than usual, but that hasn't stopped it from being very successful in cask and bottle.

As for the regulars, Brains' lip-smackingly delicious traditional mild, Dark, still sweeps up awards, while Brains Bitter is the brewer's best seller. Meanwhile Brains SA sits atop many a city bar producing a chuckle from those in the know. The initials were supposed to refer to Samuel Arthur (Brain), who began the brewery, but most have always gone for Skull Attack, a relic from a time when Welsh beers, in deference to the temperance lobby, were usually quite weak and a4.2% abv best bitter was thought inordinately strong. How times change.

Local focus

At the 13-strong Brunning & Price pubs, managers are free to select and orderin whatever beer they choose, and local food plays a major role

North Wales is a notoriously difficult place for small brewers to hawk their wares. Freehouses are rare, with the area's pubs predominantly owned by pub companies. However, Cheshire-based Brunning & Price is a small pub company that is punching far above its weight.

It owns just half-a-dozen pubs in North Wales (with the rest over the border), but has won the Good Pub Guide's Pub Group of the Year twice, and a lot of its pubs feature in both the Good Pub Guide and the Good Beer Guide.

For small brewers, Brunning & Price provides a lifeline with its policy of giving landlords free rein to order in whatever beer they like.

Ian Dale of Plassey Brewery in Wrexham is a happy man. "I started supplying several of their pubs a long time ago," he says. "It began when they approached me for a local beer. We've always had good support from them.

Dale, in turn, has been known to prop up the bar in a nearby Brunning & Price hostelry, singing the praises of his beers to customers, without letting on he brews them. He adds: "They have proper pubs selling good beer and they are very professional and positive people to do business with."

Gwynne Thomas of Conwy Brewery agrees. His beers are regulars at several of the company's houses. "They're pretty good pubs and very supportive of local beer," he says.

Brunning & Price is based outside Chester and has 13 pubs, mostly in North Wales and the north-west of England, with a couple in Surrey. It was set up by Jerry Brunning in 1981, when "I knew that I could make pubs that were attractive to people". He began with the Bell in the small Surrey village of Outwood, and, in 1988, was joined by Graham Price. Price had helped out at the Bell on occasions and the two had become friends, staying in touch when Price went off to work for Tetley after college.

"We know what we want to do, but it's not something that can be said in easy soundbites," says Brunning, when asked about the secret of their success. "A pub i

Related topics Beer Events & Occasions

Property of the week

Follow us

Pub Trade Guides

View more