 The Fettler and Firkin in Paddington, London (now converted to residential) | |
| Type | Brewery |
|---|---|
| Closed | March 2001 |
| Key people | David Bruce |
| Parent | Punch Taverns |
The Firkin Brewery was a chain of pubs in the United Kingdom. The original UK chain is now defunct, but a number of pubs operate under the Firkin name in other countries. The chain took its name from the firkin, an old English unit of volume.
The chain was established in 1979 by David Bruce as Bruce's Brewery, the Firkin Brewery grew as a chain of mostly brewpubs offering cask ale. It was acquired by Midsummer Leisure in 1988, Stakis Leisure in 1990 and then by Allied Domecq in 1991; by 1995 the chain had 44 pubs, 19 of which brewed beer on site. [1] In 1999, Punch Taverns bought the entire chain and the rights to the Firkin brand, [2] and then sold 110 of the pubs to Bass, leaving 60 Firkin pubs under Punch ownership. [3] The brewery side of the chain was wound up, and in March 2001 Punch announced that the Firkin brand was to be discontinued. [4]
After several corporate restructurings, most of the Bass sites ended up in the Mitchells and Butlers pub company formed in 2003. Many have been rebranded as O'Neill's, Scream, or Goose pubs; the Scream and Goose sites were among those sold to Stonegate Pub Company in 2010. Some of the Punch Taverns-owned Firkins were rebranded as Mr Q's or Bar Room Bar pubs. A small handful of establishments still retain the Firkin branding, distinctive because they all followed the same naming convention. The format was generally The ---- and Firkin, where ---- was a word, beginning with either "F" or "Ph", which had some connection to the pub building or to the local area.
The Firkin Brewery also gave out T-shirts for anyone who managed at least 12 pubs in the Firkin Crawl. A "passport", issued by the Brewery, would be filled with a stamp from each pub visited, and public transport directions to the nearest pub in the crawl would also be in the "passport". Although there was no stipulation in the rules that the 12 pubs had to be completed on the same day, this was often the goal of participants.
Firkin pubs in Canada and the United States operate under the Firkin Group of Pubs franchise, a chain of English theme pubs founded in southern Ontario in 1987. [5] The naming scheme for the pubs is similar to that of the UK chain (for example, "The Crown and Firkin", in Whitby, Ontario), and many Firkin Group pubs in fact share their names with former UK Firkin Brewery pubs. In the United States, the franchise pubs are named with "Firkin" first, as in "The Firkin & Fox" as opposed to "The Fox & Firkin".
The pub chain once credited itself as being the "largest and fastest growing" group of pubs in North America. Lately[ when? ] the claim is "largest & most dominant chain of traditional English pubs" in North America. About 10 pubs have closed out of the about 25 pubs that have opened since 2005. New pubs have opened about every 6 months, keeping the overall number of open pubs around 15. Typically the demographic ranges from parents with children during the day to an older drinking crowd in the evenings and late night.
A number of independent English-style pubs in Australia use "Firkin" in their names, such as the Firkin and Hound in Alice Springs. [6]
A pub is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private houses from those open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:
A pub chain is a group of pubs or bars operating under a unified brand image. Pubs within a chain are tied houses and can, generally, only sell products which the chain owner sanctions. Pubs in a chain normally display their chain branding prominently and may also feature shared aspects, such as menus and staff uniforms.
Allied Domecq PLC was an multinational company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses.
Jongleurs is a chain of comedy clubs in the United Kingdom, running since 1983. The business is now owned by Kev Orkian.
Whitbread is a British multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742 by Samuel Whitbread in partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell, with premises in London at the junction of Old Street and Upper Whitecross Street, along with a brewery in Brick Lane, Spitalfields. Samuel Whitbread bought out his partners, expanding into porter production with the purchase of a brewery in Chiswell Street, and the company had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s.
Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.
All Bar One is a chain consisting of 56 bars in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Mitchells and Butlers plc which was part of the Six Continents group until 2003.
Mitchells & Butlers plc runs circa 1,784 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The company's headquarters are in Birmingham, England. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index until its sale in 2016 for £403 million to a private equity fund, Patron Capital, acting in concert with Heineken International who acquired 1,900 of Punch's pubs as part of the deal.
First Quench Retailing was the largest independent off-licence retail chain in the UK, with around 3,500 shops operating under several retail brands, though all have now been closed. At the time of First Quench's closure, these included the Threshers, Haddows, The Local and Wine Rack chains.
The Jericho Tavern is a music venue and pub in the Jericho area of Oxford, England, at 56 Walton Street. In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was an important part of the music scene which produced Ride, Radiohead, and Supergrass.
The Porterhouse Brewing Company is a brewing company based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1996 by cousins Oliver Hughes and Liam Lahart who opened Ireland's first craft brew pub in Dublin. The company's brewery is now in Glasnevin, providing beers to its outlets in Dublin, London and New York. It also sells its products via several supermarket chains.
Alexander David Michael Bruce is a British entrepreneur who has been involved in production and retailing within the international brewing and leisure industry since 1966.
Taylor Walker was a large English brewery.
Roger Myers is the co-founder of Punch Taverns, one of the United Kingdom's largest chains of public houses.
Benskins was the pre-eminent brewery in Watford, and Hertfordshire's biggest brewer until its acquisition by Ind Coope in 1957.
The Chef & Brewer collection is a collection of over 150 licensed countryside pub restaurants in the United Kingdom, owned by Greene King. They provide pub food, specials and cask ales.
Spirit Pub Company plc (Spirit) was a pub and restaurant company in the United Kingdom based in Burton upon Trent and originally formed by Punch Taverns. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Greene King in June 2015.
The Grosvenor Picture Palace, later known as the Footage, is a former cinema and pub at the corner of Grosvenor Street and Oxford Road in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, United Kingdom. Built in 1913–15, it was the largest cinema outside London in its day. It was later a Stonegate pub which closed in 2024.