Harveys at The Lewes Arms - latest

“We’ve always prided ourselves on being able to give the customers what they want,” announced Greene King’s operations director Kris Gumbrell on Dino Bishop’s excellent early morning show on Rocket FM on Tuesday morning. He was referring to the company’s decision to withdraw Harvey’s from the menu of beer on sale in the Lewes Arms. Bit of a daft response, really, when Harveys outsells any other beer in the pub by four pints to one, and, local bias apart, is CAMRA’s current Best Bitter of the year. When put on the spot by Dino that he wasn’t, frankly, making any sense, Mr Gumbrill continued, “Only some of the customers drink Harveys. Not all the customers drink Harveys.”

The news isn’t all bad from the Greene King front. The Friends of the Lewes Arms report in their blogspot that they have received a letter from Rooney Annand, the Chief Executive of the company stating that Mark Angela, the MD, is currently investigating the matter and will be in contact soon. “It’s good that the matter has moved up the hierarchy: we view this as a positive development,” says spokesman John May. In the meantime, as we announced was to happen last week, a Mail on Sunday photographer took pictures of lunchtime drinkers enjoying a pint of Harveys outside the pub on Thursday. An article on the matter is due to appear in the financial section of the paper on the 29th. The affair, it seems, has gone national. AL