There was controversy at the Great British Beer Festival this week (still on until 5th August at Olympia) when Greene King’s Abbot was judged runner up Champion Beer of Britain.
I tasted it at Olympia and will post on that. Meanwhile what about Greene King?
Greene King is a leading British brewer and pub operator, now Hong Kong owned, but previously and recently associated with the Beerage- brewers who back the Tory Party (as they traditionally have).
In 2020 it apologised and agreed to make reparations for the reality that part of its historical wealth was based on the slave trade.
In 2021 it decided to rename several of its pubs which were called the Black Boy
Greene King acknowledged that there is no definitive evidence to link the names to the slave trade but having consulted customers have noted that many will assume this is the case, changing the name makes a degree of sense.
This BBC reported the possible origins of ‘Black Boy’ pub names, the importance of changing them and who was consulted on this together with details of some of the pubs involved:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-56040545
Their press release also references a number of other measures they are taking around BLM.
These all look fine, but as a trade unionist I know that while fine sounding policies and consultation are better than nothing getting things to actually happen is much harder. Measures on equal pay and ability to raise issues of discrimination and get them reviewed seriously for example are part of the real bottom line here.
Fortunately Greene King recognises Unite the Union for its brewing operations and disputes on pay and conditions occur and are settled sometimes with recourse to strikes.
The action on BLM and union recognition is what would be expected from a major employer keen to avoid reputational damage. Its the political representatives of business- the Tories- who are out of step with the modern world.
None of this makes me love Greene King or their beer particularly but staring reality in the face does no harm
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