Wetherspoon and Heineken settle dispute
In early January 2015 the pub operator JD Wetherspoon settled a dispute with Heineken that prompted the chain to ban the brewer’s drinks from its 926 pubs in Britain and Ireland. The argument erupted in December after Heineken’s Irish arm refused to supply its eponymous lager and Murphy’s stout to Wetherspoon’s new pub in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin.
Industry analysts said Heineken may have been unhappy that Wetherspoon was undercutting other pubs in Ireland by charging EUR 3.00 (USD 3.55) a pint for its lager, compared with an average price of about EUR 5.00 (USD 5.50).
Wetherspoon responded by scrapping all Heineken’s drinks from its pubs putting GBP 60 million in sales a year at risk.
Announcing an end to the spat, Wetherspoon said its UK pubs would serve Heineken lager and the brewer’s other brands Fosters, Kronenbourg 1664, Strongbow, John Smith’s Extra Smooth and Amstel. Its Irish pubs will serve Beamish, Fosters and Symonds Cider but not Murphy’s or Heineken.
Who won in the end? Well, obviously, the “Aldi of pubs”, Wetherspoon, which is not afraid to take on the big guys. It has already fallen out with Diageo over the pricing of Guinness in Ireland, which means that Wetherspoon cannot serve Guinness at its Irish pubs. Although it seems that Wetherspoon did not get its way with Heineken either this time, over time the big brewers will have to reconsider their stance as Wetherspoon makes further inroads into the Irish pub sector.
The Dún Laoghaire pub, opened in December, is Wetherspoon’s second in Ireland, where it plans to open 30 pubs.
Like the German discount retailer Aldi, which taught consumers that seeking to pay less for a branded products is a virtue, Wetherspoon will teach Irish punters that they can easily save on their tipple if they are prepared to walk the extra mile to a Wetherspoon pub.
Ireland’s on-trade sales of beer continued to suffer further volume declines during 2013, falling by 2 percent. Volumes are expected to drop further, according to Euromonitor.
