Greene King toasts sales despite pub smoke ban

Published on Monday 29 January 2007 11:52

GREENE King, the owner of the Belhaven beer brand, said its pubs north of the Border had performed well in their first winter since the smoking ban was introduced.

Announcing steady group-wide trading for the 36 weeks to January 7, Greene King said its Scottish high street pubs and those with "outside areas" had benefited from strong food sales, offsetting declines in drinks sales.

The firm said Belhaven retail sales had performed better than its estimates at the time of acquisition in 2005 - just 2.8 per cent lower than last year. Flagship beer brand Belhaven Best saw volume rise 4.7 per cent.

Suffolk-based Greene King, which owns brands such as Abbot Ale and Old Speckled Hen, bought Dunbar-based Belhaven, headed by chief executive Stuart Ross, in August 2005 for 187m.

Around 300 bars operate under the Belhaven brand, mostly north of the Border.

The 205-year-old company, said in a statement today: "In this first winter of the Scottish smoking ban, high street pubs, and those with outside areas, have continued to do well; food has grown strongly, whilst liquor sales are down."

It said overall sales were in line with expectations and its Pub Company brand had seen like-for-like sales rise by 3.4 per cent over the 36 week period.

Like-for-like turnover at its Pub Partners unit, which runs the group's tenancy and lease division, was up 1.3 per cent, while the Brewing Company's own-brewed volume was in line with last year.