Greene King

Hungry Horse

Greene King: Kids 'meeting with PAW Patrol characters' cancelled due to Nickelodeon legal threat

15-Feb-2016 By Emily Sutherland

Greene King pubs have cancelled children’s events planned for the half term break after being threatened with legal action from TV channel Nickelodeon.

Greene King de-list best-selling beers

10-Feb-2016 By Emily Sutherland

Former Spirit pub operators have blasted Greene King after being ordered to de-list Sharp’s Doom Bar, Fuller’s London Pride and other leading brewery beers.

City news

Greene King reports positive results across estate

10-Feb-2016 By MC Allegra FS

Greene King has reported like-for-like sales up 2.2% in its retail estate with the Spirit managed pubs seeing like-for-like growth of 1.1%, for the 40 weeks to 7 February.

Gallery

Pub openings - January 2016

02-Feb-2016 By Oli Gross

The Publican's Morning Advertiser takes a look at pubs across the UK which were opened or renovated in January 2016.

City news

Greene King chair to be replaced by former Diageo man

02-Feb-2016 By Mark Wingett, MC Allegra FS

Greene King has announced chairman Tim Bridge is to step down after 45 years with the company, to be replaced by former Diageo finance director Philip Yea.

Apprentices

David Cameron commends Greene King for apprenticeship work

20-Jan-2016 By M&C Allegra

Greene King has been recognised by the Government for its commitment to apprenticeships.

Greene King pub stops salmonella scare from becoming TripAdvisor disaster

07-Jan-2016 By Emily Sutherland

A Greene King pub forced to close after a salmonella scare has reopened.

Coca-Cola

Greene King: Free soft drinks for designated drivers this Christmas

16-Dec-2015 By Oli Gross

Designated drivers will be rewarded for their efforts with free soft drinks at pubs this Christmas.

Big Interview

Greene King's Rooney Anand: "People running their own pub businesses have to be pretty hard-nosed"

10-Dec-2015 By Ed Bedington

Greene King might be off the beaten track in the sleepy Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds, but that has not stopped it from making waves throughout the wider UK market.

PGB report

Pubco audit: Concerns over BDM training and new agreement waivers

07-Dec-2015 By Mike Berry

There is still room for improvement in the training of business development managers (BDMs) by pubcos as less than two thirds are properly qualified, according to the annual compliance report by the Pub Governing Body (PGB).

city news

Greene King to halve brands and concepts following Spirit integration

02-Dec-2015 By MC Allegra FS

Greene King expects to halve the number of brands and formats it operates across it estate through the integration of the Spirit Pub Company portfolio.

Marketing

Greene King kicks off £1m 'To the pub' ad campaign

26-Nov-2015 By Emily Sutherland

Greene King’s new ‘to the pub’ campaign kicks off tonight, designed to encourage viewers to celebrate their local.

GK leisure tracker: London eating out spend falls

25-Nov-2015 By M&C Allegra

Household spending on eating out in London declined at a steeper rate than the rest of the country with household spending in October down by 11% in the capital compared to 4% nationally.

Top 50 Gastropubs 2016

Top 50 Gastropubs: Awards Shortlist

16-Nov-2015 By Nicholas Robinson

The shortlist for the three coveted awards for the specialist categories at the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs 2016 has been revealed, after some of the UK’s best food-serving pubs battled it out for a space.

City News

Greene King will reduce brands, analyst claims

02-Nov-2015 By MC Allegra FS

Leading analyst Jamie Rollo, of Morgan Stanley, has said he believes Greene King will look to achieve synergies from the integration of Spirit Pub Company through simplification and improvement of brands.

Tom Kerridge pie to feature at Greene King festival

02-Nov-2015 By Daniel Woolfson

­Greene King has launched a pie festival at over 130 pubs across its UK estate, with one pie created by Tom Kerridge’s team at the Hand & Flowers available at selected sites.

Apprentices

Greene King apprentice accelerates towards own kitchen

30-Oct-2015 By Oli Gross

An apprentice who is making “rapid” progress has aspirations of running his own kitchen before long.

Pub sign

Historic pub sign 'cock-up' to be rectified by Greene King

26-Oct-2015 By Oli Gross

Greene King will replace a historic pub sign after realising the symbolic name was being displayed incorrectly.  

Twitter storm over party theme

Pub scraps 'offensive' mental patient Halloween party

20-Oct-2015 By Oli Gross

A pub has cancelled a Halloween party after claims its "mental patients" theme was offensive.

More than quarter plan to spend more this Christmas

23-Sep-2015 By James Wallin, MC Allegra FS

More than a quarter of UK adults plan to increase their spend on Christmas this year and over half will match last year’s spending, according to the latest Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker.

MatchPint app

Greene King licensees' beer sales up thanks to MatchPint deal

22-Sep-2015 By Oli Gross

Hundreds of licensees are reaping the benefits of a Greene King deal for its tenants and lessees to receive a year’s free subscription to sports app ‘MatchPint’.

Charity

Hundreds of pubs show support for Prostate Cancer UK campaign

17-Sep-2015 By Mike Berry

More than 750 pubs across England are supporting Prostate Cancer UK’s Men United Arms campaign during the Rugby World Cup.

City news

Greene King: Sales up & Spirit integration 'going well'

08-Sep-2015 By Ruth Williams, MC Allegra FS

Greene King has this morning announced that like-for-like sales across its managed retail estate grew by 1.3% in the 18 weeks to 6 September, with growth of 1.9% in the last 10 weeks.

Conference

Speakers revealed for Tenanted Pub Company Summit

07-Sep-2015 By M&C Allegra Foodservice

A high-class line up of speakers have been revealed for the highly anticipated Tenanted Pub Company Summit, hosted by the PMA's sister title M&C Allegra.

Pub Sales

Greene King exchanges on 16-strong pub package

01-Sep-2015 By James Wallin, M&C Allegra Foodservice

Greene King has exchanged contracts on the sale of the 16 pubs it was required to dispose of by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), with the bulk of them going to Star Pubs & Bars.

Greene King Leisure Tracker

Poor weather to blame for decline in drinking out

26-Aug-2015 By Oli Gross

Poor weather in July has been blamed for a sharp decline in drinking out spend and a rise in eating out.

Careers

Greene King reaches apprenticeship milestone

13-Aug-2015 By James Wallin, M&C Allegra Foodservice

Greene King has recruited its 1,000th apprentice this year, putting the company ahead of schedule in its pledge to recruit 2,000 apprentices in the year to March 2016.

Pub openings gallery - July 2015

05-Aug-2015 By Oli Gross

See which UK pubs were opened or redeveloped in August 2015.

Leisure Tracker

Drinking out spend up 5% in June

29-Jul-2015 By Emily Sutherland

Eating out spend grew 6% year-on-year in June with a 5% rise in drinking out, according to the latest Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker

Pub gardens

Greene King improves 100 gardens for summer trade

02-Jul-2015 By Oli Gross

Outside spaces will be improved in more than 100 Greene King pubs in England and Scotland to prepare for summer trade.

Gallery

Pub openings - June 2015

02-Jul-2015 By Oli Gross

The latest pubs opening in time for summer trade.

GK/Spirit Deal

Greene King: ‘Business as usual’ at Spirit pubs

30-Jun-2015 By Mike Berry & Ruth Williams

Greene King boss Rooney Anand insists it’s “business as usual” for tenants and lessees following the completion of the biggest deal in the pub sector for 10 years.

Leisure tracker

Drinks sales growth outstrips food again in May

29-Jun-2015 By James Wallin, M&C Allegra

For the second time in three months spend on drinking out grew faster than eating out in May, the latest Greene King tracker shows.

City News

Greene King completes Spirit acquisition

24-Jun-2015 By Mark Wingett, M&C Allegra

Greene King has officially completed the £774m acquisition of Spirit Pub Company to create what is described as “a real force to be reckoned with”.

Former Tesco exec joins Greene King

23-Jun-2015 By Ruth Williams, MC Allegra FS

A former Tesco executive has joined Greene King in the newly created role of communications director.

Full Greene King pubs for sale list announced

17-Jun-2015 By MC Allegra FS

Greene King has revealed the full list of 16 pubs to be sold to address competition issues over its acquisition of Spirit Pub Company.

Big Interview: Spirit Pub Co's Mike Tye

15-Jun-2015 By Phil Mellows

As Mike Tye nears the end of his time at Spirit Pub Company, Phil Mellows finds out about what he’s achieved, his hopes for the merger with Greene King and his chances of playing more golf.

Greene King

Greene King beats charity target by £600,000

03-Jun-2015 By Emily Sutherland

Greene King has raised £1.6 million for Macmillan cancer support in the past three years, beating its target of £1 million.

Company News

CMA reveals verdict on Greene King/Spirit deal

11-May-2015 By James Wallin, M&C Allegra Foodservice

The Competition and Markets Authority has found Greene King’s proposed £773m acquisition of Spirit Pub Company raises competition issues in “a small number of areas”.

Company news

Greene King announces positive full-year results

05-May-2015 By Mark Wingett, M&C Report

Greene King has reported like-for-like sales up 0.4% for the 51 weeks to 26 April in its Retail division but said it had seen record Valentine’s Day sales of £4m and a 2.4% like-for-like increase over Easter.

Operator news

Spirit reveals profit rise

29-Apr-2015 By Mark Wingett, M&C Allegra

Spirit Pub Company, which is set to become part of Greene King, has this morning reported a 1.5% increase in like-for-like sales across its managed division, with net sales up 4.5% and EBITDA up by 6% to £59.8m.

Greene King defends IPA cost rise after Budget duty cuts

08-Apr-2015 By Helen Gilbert

Greene King has defended its decision to increase the cost per barrel of its IPA at the same time as passing on beer duty cuts.

Company News

Greene King employees in Dementia Friends support

07-Apr-2015 By Mike Berry

More than 1,000 Greene King employees have signed up to become Dementia Friends part of a network of volunteers to reach out to people affected by dementia.

Social media training rolled out to Greene King tenants

27-Mar-2015 By Ellie Bothwell

A programme of social media marketing training has been rolled out to support Greene King tenants and lessees.

Greene King makes new apprenticeships commitment

09-Mar-2015 By Mike Berry

Greene King has pledged to offer a further 2,000 apprenticeships in its outlets over the next 12 months.

Spirit Leased to rollout turnover-based rent deal

22-Jan-2015 By Rob Willock

Spirit Leased is to make its turnover-based rent deal the norm for new tenants and lessees as the company looks to move “from the Premier League to the Champions League”, the Publican's Morning Advertiser's sister title M&C Report understands.

Greene King like-for-like sales up buoyed by record Christmas Day trading

19-Jan-2015 By Mark Wingett, M&C Report

Greene King has announced like-for-like sales up 0.6% across its managed pubs for the 36 weeks to 11 January, with sales up 2% for the festive period amid record breaking Christmas Day trading.

Greene King's Spirit bid approved by shareholders

13-Jan-2015 By James Wallin

Greene King shareholders have approved the company’s bid to take over Spirit Pub Company.

C&C Group confirms withdrawal from Spirit bidding

06-Jan-2015 By James Wallin

C&C Group, the Irish producer of Magners, has officially ruled out a bid for Spirit Pub Company, leaving the way clear for Greene King to proceed with its £773.6m acquisition of the Mike Tye-led business.

Greene King 'dragon's den' backs pub poetry and 80s concept

12-Dec-2014 By James Wallin

A Greene King tenant has secured backing from the pubco to roll out a concept bringing together poetry and pubs as part of a 'dragon's den' style contest.