Why, when pubs are closing hand over fist would anyone risk their hard-earned cash and open a pub?

Many big pub companies and breweries have failed to notice a shift in customer expectations.  People want quirky, interesting pubs.  There has also been a massive increase in small independent companies that really care about the ales, lagers, wines and spirits they produce.  Modern drinkers want access to these great products and they are willing to go out of their way to get them.

The corporate approach to the pub has fallen out of favour with many drinkers so they stop using them.  Unfortunately, this has led to the demise of many great pubs, some of them of huge social and historical value.  The upside to this is they have also left gaps in the market.  We haven’t suddenly stopped being social animals who enjoy a fantastic ale or glass of wine.  For many of us, we have lost the facilities we need to try new beers and bump into strangers who become friends over a convivial glass or two.

 And that’s where the micropub/ mini pub/ ale house/ cider house, call it what you will comes in.  The Freed Man opened in January, since then three more have opened around the country.  Each one of the 150 plus micropubs in existence are run by individuals who care about their customers and the products they sell.  They are doing something the Pubcos and breweries have not done for years – listened to the customers.

 The response we have received since opening the Freed Man has proved that there is a future for the great British pub.  That future is being secured by like-minded individuals all over the country who are refusing to surrender to corporate greed and opening micropubs.  We should raise a glass of something special to them, and thanks to the pubs they are opening we have somewhere to do it.