Samuel Smith's Old Brewery
December 19, 2024 2:10 PM Subscribe
"He said he had been outside and heard somebody swear. Then he turned to the girl behind the bar and said, ‘Shut this bar and get these out.’" The Arlington is now shuttered. How one eccentric man owns 200 pubs in the UK where swearing and phones are banned.
In 2019, Smith sacked Eric and Tracey Lowery, the couple managing the Fox and Goose in Droitwich Spa, reportedly after he overheard a customer tell his wife a dirty joke.
In November 2019, he shuttered the Cow and Calf outside Sheffield after he was informed it would be unable to produce a chocolate fondant, his favourite dessert
In 2011, one Samuel Smith pub, the John Snow in Soho, became notorious when it ejected two men who were kissing. The incident sparked spirited protests, including a mass same-sex “kiss-in” outside the pub.
The article doesn't even mention the time he refused to allow a temporary bridge to built on the corner of his brewery's land when his home town was split in two after a flood destroyed the only bridge.
In 2019, Smith sacked Eric and Tracey Lowery, the couple managing the Fox and Goose in Droitwich Spa, reportedly after he overheard a customer tell his wife a dirty joke.
In November 2019, he shuttered the Cow and Calf outside Sheffield after he was informed it would be unable to produce a chocolate fondant, his favourite dessert
In 2011, one Samuel Smith pub, the John Snow in Soho, became notorious when it ejected two men who were kissing. The incident sparked spirited protests, including a mass same-sex “kiss-in” outside the pub.
The article doesn't even mention the time he refused to allow a temporary bridge to built on the corner of his brewery's land when his home town was split in two after a flood destroyed the only bridge.
Christ, what an arsehole.
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:20 PM on December 19 [15 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:20 PM on December 19 [15 favorites]
“Joseph Mitchell, A. S. Colborne, and the Anti-Profanity League”
posted by Lemkin at 2:28 PM on December 19
posted by Lemkin at 2:28 PM on December 19
I got about a third of the way through before I realised I'd read all I wanted to know about this man.
Many of these pubs have been empty for more than five years. The majority are in villages that have no other pub. In Appleton Roebuck, Samuel Smith owns both the village pubs. Both are shut. Even the Crown Inn in Bolton Percy, where generations of Smith’s family have married and are buried in the churchyard, is shut. “It’s a massive issue for all these communities,” says Greg Mulholland, a former MP for Leeds North West and chair of the Campaign for Pubs. For local people in small towns and villages, the loss of their pub can feel like a bereavement. In Sheriff Hutton, near York, a group held a candlelit vigil for the Castle Inn when it was shuttered in 2021.
Someone line up three ghosts to visit this bloke through the night next Tuesday, stat.
posted by rory at 2:38 PM on December 19 [21 favorites]
Many of these pubs have been empty for more than five years. The majority are in villages that have no other pub. In Appleton Roebuck, Samuel Smith owns both the village pubs. Both are shut. Even the Crown Inn in Bolton Percy, where generations of Smith’s family have married and are buried in the churchyard, is shut. “It’s a massive issue for all these communities,” says Greg Mulholland, a former MP for Leeds North West and chair of the Campaign for Pubs. For local people in small towns and villages, the loss of their pub can feel like a bereavement. In Sheriff Hutton, near York, a group held a candlelit vigil for the Castle Inn when it was shuttered in 2021.
Someone line up three ghosts to visit this bloke through the night next Tuesday, stat.
posted by rory at 2:38 PM on December 19 [21 favorites]
How many narcissist's does it take to change a lightbulb?
None. They use gaslighting.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:54 PM on December 19 [28 favorites]
None. They use gaslighting.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 2:54 PM on December 19 [28 favorites]
Seems like you could build a decent enough business empire by simply following him around, and opening places next door to the ones he shuts?
...or is it the kind of thing where planning permission has gotten so convoluted and horrible you can't open a pub unless there was already a pub in that exact location?
posted by aramaic at 3:07 PM on December 19 [2 favorites]
...or is it the kind of thing where planning permission has gotten so convoluted and horrible you can't open a pub unless there was already a pub in that exact location?
posted by aramaic at 3:07 PM on December 19 [2 favorites]
No one should be allowed to have this much money and power.
posted by Slinga at 3:17 PM on December 19 [6 favorites]
posted by Slinga at 3:17 PM on December 19 [6 favorites]
aramaic - it sounds like he buys all local pubs in the area and is litigious to sue anyone who would open another one. There might not be issues from the council, but he definitely would raise all shades of shit to stop it.
There are not that many people in the UK for whom I think having a massive stroke and being unable to communicate would be a net positive for the country. This story has raised that number by one. He's 80, and I really hope his son is actually a decent human being. Or is enough of a fool to squander everything in a couple of years.
posted by Hactar at 3:20 PM on December 19 [9 favorites]
There are not that many people in the UK for whom I think having a massive stroke and being unable to communicate would be a net positive for the country. This story has raised that number by one. He's 80, and I really hope his son is actually a decent human being. Or is enough of a fool to squander everything in a couple of years.
posted by Hactar at 3:20 PM on December 19 [9 favorites]
Early-mid 2000s me would be disappointed to know the guy responsible for my lot beer of choice was really an asshole.
If The Alchemist turns out to be a bunch of scumbags, I kind of don’t want to know. Just let me enjoy my Heady Topper.
posted by HVACDC_Bag at 3:33 PM on December 19 [3 favorites]
If The Alchemist turns out to be a bunch of scumbags, I kind of don’t want to know. Just let me enjoy my Heady Topper.
posted by HVACDC_Bag at 3:33 PM on December 19 [3 favorites]
He's a building hoarder. Ugh.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:42 PM on December 19 [5 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:42 PM on December 19 [5 favorites]
Like old frankland the crank, from hound of the baskervilles, but a hundred-millionaire. Spits.
posted by lalochezia at 3:48 PM on December 19
posted by lalochezia at 3:48 PM on December 19
Also, this is a really good article.
Some things shouldn't be subject to the whim of one person, or company. As the article points out, pubs are integral to these communities - often the nearest thing to a 'third place' for thousands of people!, and because of the victorian fusty deranged whims of one man, they have been left to molder.
Private property needs to come with more restrictions.
posted by lalochezia at 3:53 PM on December 19 [9 favorites]
Some things shouldn't be subject to the whim of one person, or company. As the article points out, pubs are integral to these communities - often the nearest thing to a 'third place' for thousands of people!, and because of the victorian fusty deranged whims of one man, they have been left to molder.
Private property needs to come with more restrictions.
posted by lalochezia at 3:53 PM on December 19 [9 favorites]
It's weird, because some of his obsessions are things I can relate to: restoring historic buildings, great! Objecting to wanton building on greenbelt land, generally yeah!
But then he just sits on the buildings without restoring them, and wastes time and money objecting to reasonable rural plans like the equestrian centre. It's sort of a Selfish Giant story, except without the happy ending.
Maybe he'd have been happier without the pubs and without his millions, just living quietly on his farm objecting to things.
He still sounds slightly less awful than the Wetherspoons guy.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:46 PM on December 19 [6 favorites]
But then he just sits on the buildings without restoring them, and wastes time and money objecting to reasonable rural plans like the equestrian centre. It's sort of a Selfish Giant story, except without the happy ending.
Maybe he'd have been happier without the pubs and without his millions, just living quietly on his farm objecting to things.
He still sounds slightly less awful than the Wetherspoons guy.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:46 PM on December 19 [6 favorites]
he just sits on the buildings without restoring the
Worse, without doing the maintenance that keeps them from decaying. That’s some Havisham hubris there.
posted by clew at 5:07 PM on December 19 [7 favorites]
Worse, without doing the maintenance that keeps them from decaying. That’s some Havisham hubris there.
posted by clew at 5:07 PM on December 19 [7 favorites]
Had you asked me yesterday, I'd have said it would be hard to make me side against a mercurial pub owner with a good oatmeal stout.
Turns out it was easy.
posted by mark k at 6:06 PM on December 19 [5 favorites]
Turns out it was easy.
posted by mark k at 6:06 PM on December 19 [5 favorites]
In beer circles this guy is infamous. He's like a prudish Smaug.
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:27 PM on December 19 [2 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 6:27 PM on December 19 [2 favorites]
If Smaug somehow turned his gold into not-gold! Which Smaug doesn’t! Objectively worse than Smaug!
posted by clew at 8:58 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]
posted by clew at 8:58 PM on December 19 [1 favorite]
He might sound less awful than Tim Wetherspoon, but that's definitely just because he's more litigious. Nothing about the way he treats people's jobs is at all better than how Spoons treats its people: there's a paragraph about how often he's been taken to tribunal in the article.
And at least Spoons is giving people jobs. The once beautiful Samuel Smith's building that's falling into ruin 300 metres from me isn't employing anyone, or feeding anyone, or performing any social function. The Spoons in the neighbourhood will have served thousands of people between 9am and 1am in the meantime.
But I think the most useful guide to reading this would be the following set of skeets
In terms of why people can't open up pubs just near a closed Samuel Smith one, yep they can. There's definitely no shortage of pubs closing and going on the market anyway. But a closed pub nearby really harshes the vibe and perceptions of a vibe based business, so most places it's not an option. The old school building near me? Yep, there's still 10 pubs to go to on that block with all kinds of different vibes (including the one nearly opposite, which Dickens did actually hate). It'd make a great 40 bed hotel, though, and that's sorely needed.
posted by ambrosen at 9:11 PM on December 19 [16 favorites]
And at least Spoons is giving people jobs. The once beautiful Samuel Smith's building that's falling into ruin 300 metres from me isn't employing anyone, or feeding anyone, or performing any social function. The Spoons in the neighbourhood will have served thousands of people between 9am and 1am in the meantime.
But I think the most useful guide to reading this would be the following set of skeets
A well-deserved happy Christmas to whoever did the lawyering on this piece.There's clearly a lot going on there, and a huge amount of legal firepower to make it difficult to report just how much of an arse he is. The example of disobeying the pension regulator is one, but also, I don't see a Gender Pay Gap record for the company, despite it employing over 250 people. The contempt for the law and other people is Dickensian in a way that really doesn't seem to exist in modern times.
Awesome work. Lesser lawyers would not have worked out how to have a good deal of that stuff into the finished piece.
[…]
Give an early Christmas present to the junior journalist or media lawyer in your life, and forward that article and tell them to read it very carefully
In terms of why people can't open up pubs just near a closed Samuel Smith one, yep they can. There's definitely no shortage of pubs closing and going on the market anyway. But a closed pub nearby really harshes the vibe and perceptions of a vibe based business, so most places it's not an option. The old school building near me? Yep, there's still 10 pubs to go to on that block with all kinds of different vibes (including the one nearly opposite, which Dickens did actually hate). It'd make a great 40 bed hotel, though, and that's sorely needed.
posted by ambrosen at 9:11 PM on December 19 [16 favorites]
The thing about billionaires isn’t that they’re any different from normal randos, but that any random person is likely to have bad opinions. And I don’t mean bad as in being a Nazi, but bad as in “people who swear should be chucked out of pubs”. And the thing about billionaires is that they can use their vast resources to inflict their bad opinions on the real world.
posted by Kattullus at 12:03 AM on December 20 [5 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 12:03 AM on December 20 [5 favorites]
Also, his beer makes my guts ache. It's odd how prominent it is in the US.
This guy is my ancestral beer-baron of choice. Their brewery is well worth a visit.
posted by GeorgeBickham at 12:50 AM on December 20 [1 favorite]
This guy is my ancestral beer-baron of choice. Their brewery is well worth a visit.
posted by GeorgeBickham at 12:50 AM on December 20 [1 favorite]
If it wasn't for this eccentric character prick, Princess Louise in Holborn would likely be my favourite pub in London. It has little separated booths and feels like a perfect facsimile of a Victorian pub.
No loud music and reasonably priced alcohol in a classic cozy pub setting is a compelling proposition, but the owner is doing active harm to communities, workers, and pub culture itself so it's not a worthy trade-off in my mind.
He's the kind of rich where reality bends around his ability to outspend even the local government. There's nothing ethical or moral about a society that allows this kind of wealth to not simply exist, but to have such control over not just individual people but whole communities and towns.
posted by slimepuppy at 2:41 AM on December 20 [9 favorites]
No loud music and reasonably priced alcohol in a classic cozy pub setting is a compelling proposition, but the owner is doing active harm to communities, workers, and pub culture itself so it's not a worthy trade-off in my mind.
He's the kind of rich where reality bends around his ability to outspend even the local government. There's nothing ethical or moral about a society that allows this kind of wealth to not simply exist, but to have such control over not just individual people but whole communities and towns.
posted by slimepuppy at 2:41 AM on December 20 [9 favorites]
The Princess Louise is easily a top five pub in Central London. And places like Cittie of York, John Snow, etc, are all fantastic. But the boss is well-known to be a nutcase.
I recommend looking up pictures of the Louise, and dreaming of which booth you’d sit in and read all day while drinking.
posted by bookbook at 3:48 AM on December 20 [3 favorites]
I recommend looking up pictures of the Louise, and dreaming of which booth you’d sit in and read all day while drinking.
posted by bookbook at 3:48 AM on December 20 [3 favorites]
It's odd how prominent it is in the US.
I was thinking about this just last night in my local liquor store in the US. UK beer imports to the US are strangely dominated by Sam Smith brands - my store had 6 different ones, PLUS a holiday gift pack, plus Trooper (which I like); London Pride and/or Old Speckled Hen, and possibly Belhaven. Here's a search from a major US chain with exactly these brands.
How does this beer occupy such a large share of the US UK beer market given all the alternatives? And reading the article, how does he keep the actual brewery running???
posted by scolbath at 5:29 AM on December 20
I was thinking about this just last night in my local liquor store in the US. UK beer imports to the US are strangely dominated by Sam Smith brands - my store had 6 different ones, PLUS a holiday gift pack, plus Trooper (which I like); London Pride and/or Old Speckled Hen, and possibly Belhaven. Here's a search from a major US chain with exactly these brands.
How does this beer occupy such a large share of the US UK beer market given all the alternatives? And reading the article, how does he keep the actual brewery running???
posted by scolbath at 5:29 AM on December 20
I understand the phones part. Swearing, unless it is intentionally harmful to another individual at the bar, seems to be part of the bar experience.
posted by DJZouke at 5:38 AM on December 20
posted by DJZouke at 5:38 AM on December 20
and possibly Belhaven
Had me worried there for a moment... Belhaven is owned by Greene King, not Samuel Smith's.
posted by rory at 6:09 AM on December 20
Had me worried there for a moment... Belhaven is owned by Greene King, not Samuel Smith's.
posted by rory at 6:09 AM on December 20
Ah yes, to clarify, I meant that over half the available beers were Sam Smiths; the others are clearly not :-). I thought it was perhaps because one importer handled all those brands in the US, but they appear to be from several different importers.
posted by scolbath at 6:51 AM on December 20
posted by scolbath at 6:51 AM on December 20
what an absolute anchor on society
posted by zenon at 8:14 AM on December 20 [2 favorites]
posted by zenon at 8:14 AM on December 20 [2 favorites]
Didn't have any clue about this humpty but I can say its a bummer that he owns places like the Princess Louise. Even the men's marble urinals are Grade II listed!
posted by thecjm at 11:14 AM on December 20
posted by thecjm at 11:14 AM on December 20
Why is it the worst people are also often the wealthiest? Or is it the other way around?
posted by tommasz at 12:08 PM on December 20
posted by tommasz at 12:08 PM on December 20
Sam Smith's is prominent here in the US due to their long lived partnership with one of the earlier successful "good beer" importers - Merchant du Vin. They've had a ton of time to push the brand as a defacto choice for your "British import" section. and a ton of relationships around the States.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:37 PM on December 20 [3 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:37 PM on December 20 [3 favorites]
This guy is my ancestral beer-baron of choice.
Dang, if that guy needs a scribe, clerk, or I guess even a footsoldier to help fight off the barbarians let me know. At the rate things are going I'll be happy to be part of his demesne.
posted by aramaic at 12:41 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
Dang, if that guy needs a scribe, clerk, or I guess even a footsoldier to help fight off the barbarians let me know. At the rate things are going I'll be happy to be part of his demesne.
posted by aramaic at 12:41 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
Why is it the worst people are also often the wealthiest? Or is it the other way around?
Caring about horde accumulation rather than people can get you a horde but doesn't make you care about people.
posted by Mitheral at 12:48 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
Caring about horde accumulation rather than people can get you a horde but doesn't make you care about people.
posted by Mitheral at 12:48 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
How does this beer occupy such a large share of the US UK beer market given all the alternatives?
Sam Smith’s ales arrived in-force in my neck of the woods (Indiana!) long before any of the rest of the UK brews started flowing in. I was enjoying bottles of Tadcaster Porter back in the early 80s here.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:06 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
Sam Smith’s ales arrived in-force in my neck of the woods (Indiana!) long before any of the rest of the UK brews started flowing in. I was enjoying bottles of Tadcaster Porter back in the early 80s here.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:06 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
“people who swear should be chucked out of pubs”
But that's not what he is doing. I could vaguely understand that even if it is a bit excessive. What Smith is doing is *closing down the pub*, semipermanently, if a customer swears. And that's insane.
posted by tavella at 2:21 PM on December 20 [4 favorites]
But that's not what he is doing. I could vaguely understand that even if it is a bit excessive. What Smith is doing is *closing down the pub*, semipermanently, if a customer swears. And that's insane.
posted by tavella at 2:21 PM on December 20 [4 favorites]
I suppose, now that I think of it, one amusing technique would be to literally follow him around, wait until he enters one of his own pubs, then walk in and yell "Oi! Wanker!" while making the appropriate gesture.
...eventually he'll run out of pubs to close or (somewhat less likely, but still possible) his evidently gigantic self-regard will pause and allow him to decide maybe he likes money more than being a wanker.
posted by aramaic at 4:48 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
...eventually he'll run out of pubs to close or (somewhat less likely, but still possible) his evidently gigantic self-regard will pause and allow him to decide maybe he likes money more than being a wanker.
posted by aramaic at 4:48 PM on December 20 [1 favorite]
I read this a couple of days ago with some dismay, I knew essentially nothing about the company or its owner but their oatmeal stout is one of my favourite beers and my favourite beer glass is a purloined Samuel Smith's pint glass from a pub in London (which is the other side of the world from me). I walked past the Samuel Smith's selection in the bottle shop with a sigh today and bought other things.
posted by deadwax at 10:38 PM on December 20 [2 favorites]
posted by deadwax at 10:38 PM on December 20 [2 favorites]
Writing on social media on Friday, the Cramond Inn team said: “Unfortunately the pub will be closing its doors on Saturday night. We have been told by the brewery that the pub must shut and stocked out on Monday. We had hoped to stay open until after Christmas.
posted by ambrosen at 11:43 AM on December 21 [1 favorite]
posted by ambrosen at 11:43 AM on December 21 [1 favorite]
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