UK: Wetherspoons pubs to stop selling San Miguel beer

Wetherspoons will soon stop selling a major beer brand recently voted the nation’s favourite, sparking outrage amongst pundits, The Independent reported on November 12.

From November, the massive pub chain will no longer serve San Miguel, the popular Spanish pale lager. Pundits will instead be offered the Italian Poretti, at less than £4 a pint in most locations.

Founded in 1890 in Manila, Phillipines, San Miguel was named the nation’s favourite beer in a YouGov poll from the start of October.

Mahou San Miguel (MSM), the brand’s Spanish wing, was set up in 1953 and has been partnered with Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) for the past 15 years.

However, this partnership will dissolve at the end of the year, with many speculating this to be a factor in Wetherspoon’s executive’s decision.

Speaking about the end of the license deal, CMBC chief executive Paul Davies said: “Naturally, we are disappointed by the decision, and are working to mitigate the impact on our business.”

“We are incredibly proud of our many achievements over more than 15 years with MSM, massively driving distribution and significantly growing San Miguel brand volume.”

The news comes after outspoken Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin warned at the start of the month that price rises at the budget pub chain were likely to rise in the wake of Labour’s October Budget.

He said: “Cost inflation, which had jumped to elevated levels in 2022, slowly abated in the following two years, but has now jumped substantially again following the Budget.

“All hospitality businesses, we believe, plan to increase prices, as a result.

“Wetherspoon will, as always, make every attempt to stay as competitive as possible.”

Wetherspoon, which runs nearly 800 pubs across the country, said its tax and business costs are expected to increase by about £60 million over the next tax year.