JD Wetherspoon drops Heineken at all sites after supply spat

JD Wetherspoon has announced that it is no longer trading with Heineken at any of its 926 pubs.

The decision came after Heineken refused to supply Heineken and Murphy's stout to Wetherspoon's new pub in Dun Laoghaire in Ireland.

Wetherspoon said that the brewer had asked for personal guarantees from its chief executive John Hutson in order to supply any other products to the new Dun Laoghaire pub.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: "We have been trading with Heineken for 35 years and they have never requested personal guarantees before.
"It's obstructive to do so now, especially when we made record profits of around £80m last year.

"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."

Wetherspoon 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.