In case you haven’t been following this story, here’s a quick synopsis:

British brewing concern Greene King owns hundreds of pubs, by and large local pubs that they have purchased. One such is the Lewes Arms in Sussex. Just down the road from the pub is Harvey’s Brewery. Harvey’s Best Bitter has been a favorite of the locals probably forever. Even after Greene King introduced their own beers, the Harvey’s outsold them 9-to-1. Then, in a fit of corporate hubris, last fall Greene King stopped selling Harvey’s Best Bitter. The customers didn’t like it. The local government didn’t like it. Greene King’s response was, basically, “We own the pub and we’ll sell our beers. Don’t like it? Too bad.” Thus began a local boycott that went on for months and got all kinds of press coverage. Some have speculated that business at the Lewes Arms dropped by about 90%, and stayed there. Even as recently as last month Greene King said they wouldn’t cave to the pressure.

Well, that’s changed.

In an article in today’s issue of The Publican comes news that Greene King will reverse their position, at least where Lewes Arms is concerned.

Adam Collett, marketing director for Greene King’s managed pubs, acknowledged his company had “underestimated the strength of feeling which led to many locals boycotting what was once a great British pub. As a result, it has lost some of its character and greatness.”

However, in true corporate fashion:

Although he defended Greene King’s right to remove the beer from the pub “and, where we choose, not to sell rival beers”, he admitted the group “did not fully appreciate its special position in Lewes as the former ‘Brewery Tap’, or take into account its history and traditions”.

Let’s hope that this isn’t a boondoggle and that Harvey’s is returned to its rightful place within the next few weeks.

See also: The Lewes Arms blog, Friends of the Lewes Arms

(via RealBeer.com)