Fair outlook for Robinsons

It's a wet Monday in Stockport. Rain is hammering down from a slate-grey sky and bouncing off the pavement. It's a day for locking the door, pulling the curtains and making a pot of tea, rather than going to the pub.

But as I shake the rain from the umbrella donated by the kind folk of Robinsons Brewery, I struggle to get into the Arden Arms on Millgate. It's packed — and it's fortunate that Oliver Robinson, who has some clout in a pub his brewery owns, has booked a table.

Aren't pubs supposed to be quiet on Mondays, especially when the Met Office has put out a severe weather warning? Clearly Cheshire folk are made of sterner stuff. They're in the pub, sinking pints of Robinsons' finest and tucking into substantial lunches.

"It's like this every day," Oliver Robinson says. He's the young commercial director of the brewery, a member of the sixth generation to work for the company. He introduces me to Joe Quinn and Steve King who run the pub and are busy juggling pints and plates.

They're a lucky duo, for the Arden Arms is a Victorian pub with both history and architecture on its side. It's Grade II-listed and has impressive glazed tiling, chandeliers and a grandfather clock.

Frederic Robinson is a Stockport institution. Brewing started in 1838 in the Unicorn inn and the business was energetically expanded by the founder's son, Frederic, when he took over in 1859. Today the company owns 400 pubs throughout the north-west and the family shows no signs of slowing down.

"I've got four sons," Oliver Robinson points out, in case anyone is considering making a bid for the brewery. "We're not going anywhere — we're financially secure and we're building for the next generation."

He's brutally honest about the pub side of the brewery. "Of our 400 pubs, 20% are doing well, 60% could do better and 20% are struggling. Some low-end pubs are going and we've bought nine from Punch.

"We're spending £6m a year on repairs and improvements to our pubs — that's £16,000 on each pub. And we provide licensees with food and wine development advisers and energy advisers. One licensee saved £10,000 a year on food supplies."

Beer is not being neglected. Robinsons has a large portfolio of 11 beers, ranging from Hatters, a 3.3% ABV mild, to the award-winning Old Tom, an 8.5% ABV barley wine. In between there's Dizzy Blonde, a golden ale; Unicorn, the bedrock best bitter; Double Hop, a modern beer with a big punch of hops; and two beers — XB and Cumbria Way — for the Hartley's pub trade in the Lake District: Hartley's was taken over in 1982.

We're joined for a beer in the Arden Arms by head brewer Chris Hellin and engineering manager Simon Wells, who are in charge of a major overhaul of the plant. At present the Unicorn Brewery can produce an impressive 50,000 barrels a year, but this time next year that capacity will double with the introduction of a new brewhouse.

Freetrade​

Robinsons isn't resting on its tied estate. It brews 10,000 barrels a year for the freetrade and also contract brews for other companies. It plans to expand on all fronts, but the belt and braces will remain cask beer, which accounts for 80% of annual production.

The freetrade is important, but Oliver Robinson is quick to bang the drum for the key role played by the tie. He has no patience with critics of the system. "The tie is our weekly guaranteed order," he says. "It's a fair model, with low rents. Our rents are 50% less than the north-west average. If we lost the right to tie, then our rents would have to double.

"We've spent 20 years defending the tie. Why is it just the brewing industry that's singled out for criticism? If I go to a petrol station owned by BP, I don't expect to find pumps selling Esso. If I go into a Burger King I won't get a McDonald's."

Umbrellas up, we hurry back to the brewery, where Hellin and Wells take me on a tour of the 1920s brewhouse that Hellin admits is inefficient. There will be a £4m investment in a new German-built Steinecker brewhouse that will use energy-efficient mash mixers, filtration vessels and wort kettles that allow more brews per day to go through.

"We'll cut our carbon footprint by 50%," Chris Hellin says. "We're looking at energy recovery — for example, the central heating system in the offices will be supplied by the new brewhouse." The £4m investment will include a visitors' centre, while a museum will house the current mash tuns and coppers used to produce Robinsons ales.

We end the tour in the Unicorn Room, a bar for staff and visitors where the last word goes to Oliver Robinson, custodian of the family business.

"I wish people would stop meddling in our industry," he says. "Pubs offer a controlled environment — there's no underage drinking. Excessive drinking comes from the supermarkets. We've got to promote pubs and beer more — get young people to try cask beer. But we can only do that if we're not buried in red tape and legislation."

And suddenly the rain stops, the sun peeps warily through the clouds and you feel there's a future for beer and brewing in the hands of families such as the Robinsons.