This is just one of the challenges being faced by pubs currently, according to Amor whose Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, business not only brews beer mainly for the on-trade but also operates seven pubs.
Amor told The Morning Advertiser: “I don’t know how well reported this is in the trade but illicit drugs are absolutely rife now. Even in little rural market towns you hear about youngsters and even older people are using illicit drugs and by that, I mean cannabis, cocaine and ketamine – it’s much more common now.
“People are choosing to spend their money on that and not going to pubs as much. I don’t know if that’s really talked about as much but it’s a big problem.”
Amor, who told The Morning Advertiser Wye Valley Brewery has started initial work on building a new brewhouse, was quick to explain drug use in pubs is not happening but rather it is taking money away from the sector.
“It’s more of a problem now in terms of where people are spending their disposable income and there also seems to be a very lax attitude about it. This wasn’t an issue back in the late ’90s.
“It’s certainly not being tolerated at pubs but it seems to be part of a night out now and there’s no stigma attached to it like there used to be.
“[Drugs] seem to be much more readily available and it needs to have more of a law enforcement to crack down on it.”
Off-trade beer sales
Despite seeing “green shoots” in the pubs and brewing sector, Amor explained some of the other challenges facing the industry.
“You’d have to think long and hard about starting a brewery up now and the challenges facing pubs are multiple.”
Despite Wye Valley Brewery celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Amor said the shift between off-trade and on-trade consumption of alcohol is a concern.
“When I started in 1996, I don’t know the figures from then but I’m guessing probably 75% to 80% of beer was drunk in pubs and bars, now it’s only about 45% of all beer in sold in the on-trade.
“The younger generation not drinking like my generation did is another thing.”
He added cask beer quality is another factor – with just 3.5% of Wye Valley Brewery’s on-trade beers going to its own estate, the rest goes to the free trade and quality can only be assured to the delivery to other pubs.
Beer Orders
Amor said: “We can do everything we can here at our end before it leaves the brewery but then what happens to it out in trade? People don’t have buy our beer but remembering and respecting customers, we have to be very tactful about if the quality at one of those pubs is not as good as it could be, how do you approach that without offending them?”
Wye Valley brewery offers regular training courses to its customers through the year where it trains licensees on the basics of how to look after both its cask and kegged beers, including cellar work.
He added: “When we had the big brewers that owned large swathes of pubs, such as Bass and Whitbread, the Beer Orders came in in 1990 and those businesses divested themselves of their pub estates leading to the emergence of pubcos. What was lost among other things was the training all pub managers, tenants and lease holders would have had from the breweries because it was in their interest to make sure their beers were served properly.
“It’s really important because otherwise the whole category will suffer if cask beer isn’t looked after properly.”
Amor added another challenge was the rise of social media in terms of meeting people.
He said: “I met my wife in a pub but I don’t know if that’s the case for 18 to 25-year-olds now that they will meet their significant other in a pub anymore – they’re more likely to meet them online.”
- To read about the new brewhouse and more from managing director Vernon Amor, click here.
