LETTERs from Morning Advertiser readers 02/11/2006

Camra cashes in on H&H closure

It was good to see that the Camra Investment Club has done so well out of their brewers' stocks (MA, 29 September).

I am pleased their Greene King holding has made a significant contribution to the excellent growth of the club's assets over many years. Clearly our organisations both have the desire to prosper and a true passion for cask beer.

Our commitment to quality is unequivocal. Cask beer needs brewers prepared to invest in quality and in marketing - brewers like Greene King. We invest more in cask beer than any other UK brewer. This is possible only because of the profits we make and because we make decisions that stack up commercially and operationally. At Hardys and Hansons, with brewing at less than 50% capacity, sadly this means closure. The reality is that it is uneconomical to continue brewing there.

It is easy for Camra to criticise. They don't have to deliver returns on brewing and selling beer. We do - to the benefit of beer drinkers and licensees as well as shareholders. Camra's club can take sizeable profits from Greene King and from the sale of Hardys and Hansons. They do this while criticising our company for stopping uneconomical operations.

If the club would like to subsidise operations on an on-going basis, they should let us know. Or if they would like to buy the Kimberley brewery as a going concern, they should contact us as soon as possible. They could always reinvest all the profits into a campaign to market real beer. Or they could donate their embarrassing profits to the Licensed Victuallers' Charity, to help those who have fallen on hard times.

Camra should know that our agenda is not to close breweries; it is to make our business a success, brewing and marketing the best quality cask beer, running great pubs and providing pleasure for our customers and employment for our people. Our investment in cask ale is possible only because shareholders see healthy returns on their money - without those returns brewing would cease.

So Camra should accept that there will continue to be change in the industry and should be positive about the players who are committed to cask beer. Just imagine what might be achieved if all the negative column inches they generate were replaced with constructive copy supporting us. Let's champion the success of great British beer together.

Rooney Anand

Chief Executive

Greene King

Sky's price policy fails at my pub

I'm a licensee who was offered a satellite system by a company for £1,800.

Before I had it installed, I was running Sky from upstairs down into the bar, which I know is illegal, but with rent, beer, rates, and Sky on top, we are working seven days a week to keep a roof over our heads.

I don't think people realise that a normal pub doesn't make the money it did 30 years ago. We can't afford Sky, and if there is a grey area around foreign satellite systems we will take advantage of it. It's disgraceful that Sky charge so much. The pub down the road pays less on their rates and pays Sky half the amount we do. We are a bigger pub and our overheads are higher. We aren't as busy as the other pub, so Sky's pricing policy isn't working for us. They are ripping off the industry, and honest landlords trying to make a living.

Name and address supplied

Cask Marque sad to see H&W leave

I was interested to read about the Hall & Woodhouse beer quality initiative (MA, 19 October) and yes we were sad that the brewer decided to leave Cask Marque as they had been great supporters of the scheme.

You have to ask yourself why they left the scheme when Cask Marque carry out full house audits similar to their "quality audit" and do so for many of the major managed pub groups.

The cost of consolidating the Cask Marque award scheme with the full house audit for 250 pubs would have been cheaper than the cost of running their own scheme quoted at £80,000.

Can a pub score 100% on a full house audit? In our experience this is very rare.

Where's the independence so valued by the Cask Marque membership? Where is the consumer awareness of the scheme, which will increase footfall? An NOP survey reports 31% of cask-ale drinkers recognise the Cask Marque plaque.

However, well done to H&W in making this extra investment in an area that will make a difference to their profitability."

Paul Nunny

Cask Marque Trust