Pub beer row boycott reaches 100 days

9:17am Tuesday 27th March 2007

Drinkers are still boycotting a historic pub in protest at a brewery's decision to stop selling their favourite ale.

Hundreds have stayed away from the 220-yearold Lewes Arms since mid-December, when brewer Greene King withdrew Harveys Bitter from sale.

It stopped selling the brew despite a 1,200 signature petition which attracted support from Lewes MP Norman Baker.

The boycott of the Lewes Arms has now lasted for more than 100 days and shows no signs of slowing, with former regulars maintaining a picket line-style protest outside on Saturday nights.

Harveys has been brewed a few hundred metres away, beside the River Ouse, by an independent family firm since 1790. It was voted best bitter in 2005 and 2006 at the Great British Beer Festival.

In the Lewes Arms, as a "guest beer", it outsold Greene King's own IPA, brewed in Suffolk, by at least four to one. The brewery stopped selling the ale in favour of its own beers, a decision that sparked outrage among regulars.

A statement released by Greene King appears to have quashed any hopes of a U-turn.

Managing director Mark Angela said: "All over the country, brewers sell their own beer in their own pubs - it's a practice as old as the pub itself.

"We recognise that some of our customers at the Lewes Arms don't accept this practice but we are proud of our wonderful beers and proud to sell them.

"Greene King is one of the biggest supporters of community pubs in this country. Last year we invested nearly £40 million on improvements to our pubs.

"The direct feedback we receive on a daily basis is central to the way that we shape our service and our pubs.

"We have been serving communities by running great pubs for more than 200 years and intend to carry on doing so for another 200 whatever challenges are thrown our way."

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