JD Wetherspoon backs down from Heineken delisting threat

JD Wetherspoon has backed down from its decision to delist all Heineken products after a spat over supply to its Dun Laoghaire pub in Ireland.

In December the pub giant said that Heineken had asked for personal guarantees from its chief executive John Hutson in order to supply any products to the new pub.

Wetherspoon's had been selling Heineken lager and Murphy's at under three Euros a pint in its first pub in the Republic of Ireland, The Three Tun Tavern at Blackrock.

At the time chairman Tim Martin said: "The refusal to supply Heineken lager and Murphy's just before the opening of our new pub in Dun Laoghaire, which represents an investment by us of nearly four million Euros, is unacceptable and hard to understand."

As a result Wetherspoon announced that it was no longer trading with Heineken at any of its 926 pubs.

But now it has announced that it will serve Heineken products - including Beamish, Fosters and Symonds Cider - at the Dun Laoghaire pub, though it won't serve Murphy's or Heineken.

The full range of Heineken products will again be available Wetherspoon's pubs across the UK.

Wetherspoon commercial director Paul Hine said: "We are pleased to have reached agreeable commercial terms with Heineken.

"In the Republic of Ireland we will serve the three Heineken products at prices in line with our other products."