Greene King


Greene King is the UK's largest pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019.

History

The brewery was founded by Benjamin Greene in Bury St. Edmunds in 1799. In Wilson’s biographical analysis of the Greenes, he credits members of their family for being able to achieve distinction in the worlds of business and banking, literature and broadcasting in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.’
In 1836 Edward Greene took over the business and in 1887 it merged with Frederick William King's brewing business to create Greene King.
Greene King has grown via mergers and acquisitions, including Rayments Brewery, the Magic Pub Company, Hungry Horse, Morland Brewery, Old English Inns, Morrells, a large part of the Laurel Pub Company, Ridley's Brewery, Belhaven Brewery, Hardys and Hansons, the Loch Fyne fish restaurant chain, Cloverleaf, Realpubs, the Capital Pub Company and the Spirit Pub Company.
The Spirit acquisition, where Greene King bought Spirit for £773.6m, took the total number of Greene King sites to 3,116, brought 14 brands together and made Greene King the largest managed pub company in the UK. It was completed on 23 June 2015.
It was announced in November 2018 that Rooney Anand would be stepping down from his role as CEO after 14 years in the position.
In 2019 the Hong Kong based CK Assets announced the proposed take over of Greene King, which shareholders will have to approve. According to the Financial Times, the holding company is taking the view that the pubs owned by Greene King are an asset that is safe from potential recession. Analyst David Blennerhassett told the FT that CK Assets has a track record of buying such assets in the UK and he does not expect it to sell Greene King later as a bet on the falling pound. The takeover was approved by the High Court in October 2019.

Operations

The Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds produces beers branded in the names of breweries now closed, including Morland, Ruddles, Hardys & Hanson and Tolly Cobbold. The Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar continues to operate in Scotland.
The group operates 3,100 pubs, restaurants and hotels:
There is a visitor centre next to the brewery, and tours are run regularly throughout the week. The brewery has an exhibition of pub sign artwork by George Taylor, who designed over 250 such signs for Greene King pubs.

People

Greene King has been supporting apprenticeships since 2011 through its award winning Greene King Apprenticeship Programme. Since launch, the scheme has welcomed some 9,000 apprentices.
In 2016, Greene King launched the Get Into Hospitality Programme in partnership with The Prince’s Trust. The aim of the programme is to address the skills and experience gaps that prevent unemployed people from getting into work. Those who successfully complete and graduate from the programme are offered a role onto the Greene King Apprenticeship Programme.
In 2017, Greene King launched the Craft Academy, an 18 month brewing venture led by apprentices. Through the programme, apprentices earn while they learn about brewing, design and marketing. Through the scheme, they will gain a Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Sales. The first five beers from the Craft Academy was launched at Craft Beer Rising Festival in London and include; Over Easy, Big Bang IPA, Bitter Sweet, Desert Ryeder and High & Dry.

Criticism

Greene King's ongoing business expansion has sometimes been the subject of criticism. As a result of its active acquisition policy, it has come to be known by beer protesters as Greedy King. The growing consumer reaction to Greene King buying out smaller breweries was demonstrated towards the end of 2006 when a pub in Lewes, East Sussex started a well-publicised protest against Greene King for removing the locally produced Harveys Sussex Best Bitter from sale, while continuing to sell other guest beers.
In January 2014, popular Manchester pub The Lass O'Gowrie, voted "Best Pub in Britain" at the Great British Pub Awards in 2012, closed after landlord Gareth Kavanagh was forced out in an argument over rent. Having lost 40% of their trade after the BBC moved to Salford, Kavanagh had won a rent reduction at an independent tribunal before being forced out by the brewery.
Greene King has also been criticised for removing many traditional and historic pub signs as part of rebranding schemes.

Beers

Greene King

In March 2016, Greene King won Best Managed Pub Company at the 2016 Publican Awards. Greene King's chief executive, Rooney Anand, also won Business of the Year Award at the Publican Awards 2016. In March 2017, Greene King Pub Partners won Best Tenanted & Leased Pub Company at the 2017 Publican Awards.