MP BACKS HARVEYS

Lewes Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has added his name to a petition campaigning to keep the local beer, Harveys, in the Lewes Arms following plans by the brewery to remove it from sale.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Oct 2006, 11:19 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 22:36 BST

He raised the matter with Greene King at a meeting in London yesterday (Monday].

Suffolk based brewery, Greene King, took over the Lewes Arms from Beards some years ago and now intend to replace the popular, award winning local beer, Harvey's, with their own ale, which has been re-branded with the name 'Lewes Arms'.

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At the meeting attended by both Norman Baker and senior management at Greene King, the local MP raised the matter, made it plain that the move to remove Harvey's was unpopular amongst locals and asked the brewery to reconsider their decision.

The Lewes Arms has been selling beer to residents of Lewes since the early eighteenth century. Harveys has this year alone won the Silver Award at CAMRA's 2006 Champion Beer of Britain competition and the Gold Award in the category for Best Bitter.

Commenting on Greene King's decision, Mr Baker said:

"I am surprised and disappointed that a brewery which claims to support local pubs and local communities is trying to remove the popular local beer from sale just to try and make a fast buck from selling more of their own. This is exactly the kind of poorly thought out business decision which is giving Greene King a bad reputation in the area.

"The Lewes Arms is a lovely traditional pub which serves up excellent local beer that is brewed only a few hundred yards away down the road. Harveys is far and away the most popular drink in the town so to not sell it is indefensible ridiculous. I don't' see why."

Here's what readers are saying:

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If Greene King is so confident in its "award winning quality ales" why is the company planning to remove Harvey's? Couldn't be anything to do with the fact that Harvey's has for the last couple of years been voted the best bitter in Britain, and is brewed about 800 yards away?

"... we are confident our plans for further investment in the pub will enable our customers to continue to enjoy the warm welcome offered by the Lewes Arms."

Now this is really worrying - any company that would contemplate removing its best selling attraction could also be contemplating a multitude of catastrophic changes under the "our plans for further investment" umbrella.

Luckily the plans for the video juke box and the wide screen TV won't bother most of the customers who supply Greene King with their not insubstantial sales of beer in the Lewes Arms because they drink Harvey's and when that goes so will the clientele and the atmosphere.

Is there an industry award for corporate vandalism? I think I have a nominee.

Cheers

Chris Lewis

Related topics:Norman BakerGreene KingLondonSuffolk