Focus Midlands: On course to grow
LIKE MANY towns which have seen better days as an industrial force, the streets of Stoke-on-Trent present a depressing picture for those who care about the pub industry.
Yet among the boarded-up businesses there are some gems - proof that there's still a healthy market for a good pub.
The Greyhound is on an unpromising stretch of road just outside town in Newcastle-under-Lyme. A tenancy that once belonged to Enterprise Inns, then Admiral Taverns, it hadn't traded for four years when a unique partnership between local microbrewer Titanic and family brewer Everards somehow saw the glimmer of potential in the derelict building.
Realising the potential
Everards spent £300,000 on the site. Most of this went into getting the pub back into a state in which it could trade, then Everards let it to Titanic on a three-year tenancy free-of-tie on cask beers - allowing the brewer to serve its own products - plus wines, spirits and soft drinks.
It was an unusual move, but one that helped Leicester-based Everards extend its estate into unknown territory - and it came at just the right time for Titanic.
In fact, it's been such a successful initiative for both parties that Titanic is set to open its second Everards-owned venture next month.Titanic was among the first wave of microbrewers, founded in the Burslem part of Stoke in 1985, and rescued from receivership by brothers Keith and David Bott in 1988.
Growth came through raising Titanic's profile among the cask ale loving community nationally, but the last few years have seen that strategy focus more on the brand's status as the local brew for Stoke and to establish a small tied estate around the town.
That fitted neatly with Everards' Project William, a plan to reach beyond its heartland by supporting microbrewers in their efforts to launch their own pub estates, and the Greyhound was reborn.
Up and running
"Property values are low in Stoke so we knew we could afford to buy and then spend enough money to turn it into a good pub," says Keith Bott, Titanic's managing director.
"The fact that Titanic is a recognised brand in the area has drawn in the customers and it's become what we've termed a 'destination local' - a local pub that people will travel to."
As well as Titanic ales the Greyhound has guest beers on handpump, including Everards Tiger, which is shifting four 11-gallon containers a week alone - "so everyone is winning," says Bott.
As well as the beer, customers have been attracted by a high quality, simple and comfortable traditional refurb and a modest menu of locally sourced snacks including North Staffordshire delicacy oatcakes.
The pub is run by Martin Ridgway, who was assistant manager at Titanic's only other tied house, the freehold Bulls Head, and as the microbrewer expands its estate at a projected two pubs a year Bott aims to continue appointing managers from within, in what he only half-jokingly refers to as "the Titanic Academy".
Everards has already bought a second pub for the Stoke brewer, and is bringing another closed pub back to life, this time an imposing town centre edifice which will be known as the White Star, after the shipping line that operated the ill-fated vessel from which Titanic takes its name.
In contrast it looks as though this idea has a good chance of staying afloat…
