Will Heineken’s £39m investment into pubs help or hinder beer?

Heineken has helped 612 pubs to benefit from investment and reopened 156 long-term closed pubs in 2023 and 2024, but questions are being raised over whether these pubs will be tied to only buying its brands.

The £39 million investment which goes into upgrading and reopening pubs in its Star Pubs’ estate will purportedly create an estimated 1,075 new jobs and will see 2,400 pubs in line for improvement, with 94 of these set for makeovers costing on average £200,000. The hospitality and beer trade has, largely, covered off the investment as good news all round. However, the question over beer and cider and the repertoire that will ultimately become available in these pubs is being queried in what some are speculating as a canny way to tie the lines for each of the sites.

Speaking to the drinks business, a spokesperson for Heineken said: “Star Pubs will be putting SmartDispense into cellars at every major refurbishment where it is not already in place. The company is undertaking 94 such projects in 2024.”

Discussing the refurbishments and investment on X that Heienken was making to the pubs, industry veteran beer writer Roger Protz said: “Heineken UK and its Star pubs operator to re-open 62 closed pubs as part of suburban pub revival recognising their social value as cost of living pressures ease. Good news, they own some excellent but mainly managed pubs.” However, Protz also flagged that Heineken “has persisted in forcing its tenants to sell unreasonable levels of Heineken beers to its commercial benefit and fined for breaching Pub Code” and asked: “Will tenants have more free of tie opportunities in the ‘refreshed’ pubs or will we see more Heineken lager, Bulmer’s cider and the likes of Doom Bar? Pity they closed Caledonian.”

Upon querying whether the new SmartDispense kits would effectively tie each of the pubs to only serving Heineken-owned brands, the Heineken spokesperson told db: “Non-Heineken owned brands can be poured through these SmartDispense systems” but did not divulge details on whether each licensee would be able to negotiate their tie agreement on brands their pub pours through the new cellar kit.

Lawson Mountstevens, Star Pubs’ managing director, said: “People are looking for maximum value from visits to their local. They want great surroundings and food and drink as well as activities that give them an extra reason to go out”.