John Smith’s back on tap as pub chain row settled

Wetherspoon’s 926 pubs stopped selling Heineken’s products last month because of a dispute over supply terms at a new site near Dublin.

Nigel Pollard, a spokesman for Heineken, told The Yorkshire Post: “We are delighted that we have been able to reach agreement with Wetherspoons. We’ll see John Smith’s and other brands going forward.”

The pub company has now come to an agreement with the brewer, although drinkers at its pubs in Ireland will still not be able to buy stout brand Murphy’s or Heineken, which is the country’s biggest-selling draught beer.

Wetherspoons fell out with Guinness maker Diageo over prices at its first Irish pub, the Three Tun Tavern in Blackrock, where it had also been selling Heineken lager and Murphy’s at under three euros (£2.37) a pint against an average price in Irish pubs of around five euros (£3.95).

Heineken later refused to supply its lager and Murphy’s stout to a new Wetherspoon’s pub at Dun Laoghaire and also demanded personal guarantees on the payment of the pub’s bill from chief executive John Hutson.

That led to the decision by Wetherspoons to remove Heineken products from all its premises, equivalent to £60m a year of business. Wetherspoons’ commercial director Paul Hine said: “We are pleased to have reached agreeable commercial terms with Heineken.”

John Smith’s is brewed in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire and employs around 200 people.