Young’s very well attended AGM was held in late July at the usual venue of Wandsworth Town Hall, where the chairman was pleased to announce another very successful year for the Company, with trading having bounced back and now noticeably ahead of pre-covid levels. On a comparable 52 week basis, total revenue was up 7.4% on the previous year, with adjusted EBITDA increasing by 7.8%.
In addition to absorbing the City Pub Group’s estate, they have also purchased eight highly desirable pubs in affluent areas, as well as completing significant projects to improve others, in particular the Guinea Grill in Mayfair and the Marquess of Anglesey in Covent Garden.
Several questions from the floor related to where Young’s beers are actually brewed and the likely impact of Marston’s decision to sell their entire brewing interests to Carlsberg. The soon to retire chairman was able to confirm that the beers continue to be produced by Marston’s at their Wolverhampton brewery and that, following a fairly recent meeting to review matters with the head brewer, they continue to be more than satisfied with the taste and quality of Young’s products.
Over drinks following the formal meeting, I did manage to buttonhole Stephen Goodyear, the retiring chairman, and voiced my concerns about Young’s cask ales now being entrusted to a Danish lager factory, which has already amply demonstrated a complete disregard for traditional British beer styles.
Over the longer term he appeared to share some of these concerns but stressed that if things did take a turn for the worse, they own the brands and could always transfer production elsewhere. In the meantime, he repeated that they are very happy with the way the relationship with Marston’s is working.
John Westlake – CMIC Committee Member