Diversity and investment in the Midlands brewing scene is growing fast. Caroline Muspratt takes a closer look at the home of some of the UK's biggest brewers and pubcos
From Birmingham and Wolverhampton to Rutland and the Wirral, the Midlands is a region of diversity. Some of the country's biggest brewers and pub operators are headquartered here, while microbreweries and smaller pubcos are also thriving. In fact, for many people, the Midlands, steeped in brewing history, stands out as one of the genuine heartlands of the drinks trade.
Marketing director Peter Jackson calls Marston's Beer Company's Burton-on-Trent base "one of the brewing capitals of the world". He adds: "Despite expanding over the years to become a truly national company, we've never lost sight of our Midlands emphasis."
Enterprise Inns managing director Gerry Carroll describes the Midlands as "vibrant — it's changing, there's investment going into it and there's a lot of diversity."
Walsall-based Highgate Brewery managing director Bob Norton says: "The Midlands has always been at the heart of brewing, with names such as Bass, Wolverhampton & Dudley, and Davenport. Now a lot of the brewers have gone to the wall or been closed, but it is still the heartland as all the major pubcos have bases here."
Leicestershire-based Everards marketing manager Erika Hardy highlights another benefit of operating out of the Midlands. "We're central in the country so it makes life a lot easier for distribution networks," she says.
Wells & Young's managing director Nigel McNally agrees: "As the Midlands is in the heart of the country, we're perfectly placed to distribute our products as quickly as possible, so the beer is as fresh as possible,"
he says.
Furthermore, he says, the company is located close to many of its raw materials suppliers, and deals with farmers personally.
Costs in the Midlands — whether involving property or employing staff — are not as high as in London, for example, though brewers and pubcos everywhere have seen a sharp increase in the cost of utilities and raw materials.
Westons Cider market development manager Melvyn Dickinson says the Midlands has "the best of both worlds, with great communications, road, rail and even a canal network, but also the area has strong food and drink provenance, so people expect a strong point of difference."
He adds: "We find that there is a good honest approach to business ethics around here. The community is tightly knit, so bad news travels equally as fast as good news."
Marston's Burton base is handily placed between the M1 and M6 motorways.
"It's a very efficient place to be," says Peter Jackson. "What with our head office and Banks's brewery down the road in Wolverhampton, you can see how more than a third of the 10,000 people we employ are from the region. We have a great deal of empathy for local needs."
Punch Taverns regional operations director Suzy Jackson points out: "The Midlands are a real mixture, with really dense areas in terms of population and the Lincolnshire fens, which have hardly any population at all."
She says that for Punch, the proportion of wet-led pubs is higher in the East Midlands than in most
other parts of the country, and as a result, "the impact of the smoking ban, the price of beer and the Budget could have more of an impact on the Midlands, but it also gives us a big opportunity to move to food-led pubs."
Punch has invested more in the East Midlands region recently than in most other parts of the country and it attracts more licensees than elsewhere. "We have 20% of the national recruitment in our region but only represent 7% of the pubs," Suzy Jackson says.
Smaller businesses are also thriving, and Norton says Highgate Brewery is experiencing a second lease of life. "Being a Black Country brewer, it was well down in the rankings in terms of size, but now we're the second largest brewery in the West Midlands," he says.
The brewery changed hands last year, when Aston Manor sold it to pubco Global Star. Its beers are now going into 100 new pubs, which Norton expects to help drive further volume. New investment in the company has also allowed it to expand into other areas.
"We're about to relaunch the 'beer at home' service [which allows customers to order online] and are also going into lager production and exporting bottled beers," Norton explains. "Things are on the move."
Meanwhile, Everards stands out as an independent family business. "There aren't many of those about," Hardy says. The company has also been ahead of the pack when it comes to innovation, and developed the Cyclops tasting notes system for real ale, which has been adopted by many others in the trade across the whole of the UK.
Herefordshire-based Westons Cider has also grown rapidly, thanks to the recent popularity of premium ciders, and the company has invested in new machinery and planted new orchards.
However, Dickinson says: "The cost of fuel has hit all of us recently. We are constantly trying to improve on our efficiencies in manufacturing and distribution.
For the sales side, we are constantly working on innovative ideas — for example, we have just launched a brand new draught product, Westons Premium Cider with Cider Ice, served ice cold with a head of frozen cider."
While brewers and pub operators in the Midlands agree the region is a good business base, it is clear that they do not stand still and are changing and adapting to face the various challenges on the horizon.
Midlands factbox:
The proportion of wet-led Punch pubs is higher in the East Midlands than in other regions, while the average prices are slightly lower.
Bitter
Midlands: £2.21
UK average: £2.27
Lager
Midlands: £2.51
UK average: £2.54
Spirits
Midlands: £1.88
UK average: £1.96
Wine
Midlands: £3.02
UK average: £3.00
Mineral water
Midlands: £1.30
UK average: £1.34
Source: CGA Strategy
NB they call the Midlands region 'central' but I have changed it to Midlands for the factbox]