Kmflett's Blog

The MCC has announced that its 4 year contract with Brewdog as official beer partner and beer supplier to the ground as been terminated after just a year. It appears that following the sale of Brewdog to Tilray on 2nd March, the MCC have operated a clause in the contract that allowed them to end it if ownership changed.

The MCC statement makes clear that they are uncertain as to whether the new owners of Brewdog would continue the arrangement to sell beer at Lords.

While the value of the contract has not been disclosed it will have been significant given that Lords has a capacity of over 30,000 and is invariably full for a range of international matches including five day Tests during the summer.

The MCC have reassured members that real ale will continue to be supplied by Adnams and Thornbridge in the Pavilion where members have safeguarded cask beer even in the days when the public bars sold Watneys.

The MCC say they are now looking for a new provider. Marstons previously held the contract but no longer brews having sold its brewing operations to Carlsberg. Its not clear if Carlsberg understand the Laws of Cricket.

Time will be tight as the first 2026 Championship match at Lords, Middlesex v Gloucestershire is on 3rd April.

The international season starts in June 2026 and includes the first ever Women’s Test to be played at Lords.

Peterloo in 1819

London Socialist Historians Group

11^th March 2026

Contact LSHG Convenor Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

Historians say the right to protest has been hard won & must be protected

The London Socialist Historians Group, the long established group of research historians, has said there are serious concerns about the Home Secretary’s decision to ban the annual Al Quds march on Sunday.

While the march has a focus on Palestine it’s also one of support for the current Iranian Government. It has not previously been banned over 40 years and a ban now looks at best like a degree of acceptance of Trump’s war on Iran.

However while these questions can be debated there are wider issues

There remains an urgent need to protect the right to protest from an ever more authoritarian Government. As the Metropolitan Police have reminded us there is no actual right to march. The ability to do so can only be protected in practice.

The lobby to ban marches remain active and it is notable that Lord Walney has again supported a ban on the Al Quds march. He unveiled a long delayed report on protest commissioned by the previous Tory Government at the House of Commons in 2024 which was chaired by Lord Mandelson.

The historians say there is a long history of fighting for and defending the right to protest

After Peterloo in Manchester on 16th August 1819 where a demonstration for the vote was broken up by soldiers with many protesters left dead and injured Governments have tended to the view that allowing democratic protest is better than provoking confrontation. However that has never been a settled view and from time to time demonstrations have been banned.

On 6th May 1867 a mass protest for the vote in Hyde Park was banned and the Government called in troops. However the demonstration was so large that they were overwhelmed. The Home Secretary Walpole resigned and a Second Reform Act extending the Suffrage was passed.

Socialist Historians Convenor Dr Keith Flett, there is a lot of very recently invented history being used here on why one particular march must be banned while in the recent past fascist marches in central London which have ended in street violence have been permitted. The right to protest requires continued vigilance and exercise against authoritarian Governments whether Tory or Labour.

If only… this of course is a random headline generator for the Sunday Telegraph Editor Allister Heath. Its usually close to his actual headlines

Nigel Farage in a move for the few rather than the many has invested £2.15m in a BitCoin company chaired by Kwasi Karteng.

He is following in the footsteps of his erstwhile friend Donald Trump who did issue his own memecoin token. It was originally valued at $75 a unit but is now worth less than $3.

The Times (10th March) reports that the value of Bitcoin has fallen by 40% in the last six months.

As ever with Farage financial advice is important

Country Joe McDonald who has died at 84 warrants the lead obituary in The Times on 10th March, a badge of honour indeed.

Times Obituaries of people on the left tend to have the occasional bit of snark so whether its correct that Country Joe was named after Stalin or that the name of his band the Fish was taken from a Mao quote I’ll note without taking as the whole truth.

Even so as the obituary notes while Country Joe was famous due to Woodstock he kept going on the left through the decades, not selling out his politics to fame or fortune. From the standpoint of 2026 his personal politics might perhaps be questioned but hindsight should not replace historical understanding.

Brewdog Dalston, N16

Drinking in North-East London Brewdog bars. A Memoir

Brewdog has been sold to US Company Tilray and just 11 directly owned bars remain in the UK, with a few other franchises such as Belfast and Hull.

Back in the day (that is pre-COVID) Brewdog had ideas of expanding its pub estate in north-east London. That is Hackney and Islington. Haringey and Tottenham appeared a step too far even though the area had played a significant part in the post-2010 craft beer boom in London.

While I rarely ventured into a Brewdog pub in recent times for hopefully obvious reasons before 2020 things looked a bit different.

Brewdog had worked out rightly that north-east London had a considerable number of craft beer drinkers who would obviously be interested in its beers. That led to the opening (and eventual closing) of three pubs.

Perhaps the most well known was Brewdog Dalston (closed 2022). There is already a lot of nightlife in the area (a good thing but clearly those with kids and those who need to be up early have different perspectives) and Hackney Council were not keen. It was claimed that the bar would cause too much ‘excitement’. Licensing battles followed which Brewdog won and the two story bar (ground and basement) duly opened. I certainly frequented it a few times. The beer range was ok and it wasn’t usually that busy. I recall the bar staff addressing me as ‘sir’ a title which I do not have. Comrade would have been ok. Latterly it became the first vegan Brewdog. Anyway there are outlets for good beer in the area (one more or less opposite in fact) and eventually it closed.

Then there was briefly the pub on Homerton High St(closed 2017). Quite a small location but surely given the area a great location for a Brewdog. For comparison Zack Polanski’s local the Spreadeagle is a few minutes’ walk away. Again it didn’t really work. The beer range was limited and there are much better pubs in the vicinity. Opening hours and days started to be reduced and then it shut.

Finally there was the Brewdog on Essex Rd in Islington near Islington Green(closed 2019). Arguably the location was not great. Upper St which runs parallel is really the place for hospitality. Again there were licensing wrangles. To be honest I’m not sure exactly what the licensing conditions ended up being but then I only stopped for an occasional beer on my way from central London to Tottenham (476 bus). Again it was not a big space. I think you were meant to have food with beer and it didn’t open late. It shut and re-opened several times before Brewdog eventually gave up.

The above is a reminder that while it might be thought that Brewdog was on the beer and pubs zeitgeist before 2020 even then its grasp of the market was limited. Lots of time and money spent on legal battles led to ultimately nothing except losses. I wouldn’t entirely be surprised to find that Brewdog still have the head leases on all three locations but that’s for Tilray to ponder now.

Farage flew to Mar-a-Lago on March 6th implying that he was going to have dinner with Trump. However Trump was not there.

It may not be unconnected that on 10th March Farage U-Turned on his support for Trump’s war in Iran and said that Britain should not be involved.

Of course he took a swipe at those British forces who are actually involved, ever the patriot.

There may be trouble ahead for Farage however as a large scale YouGov poll on 9th March showed that nearly 60% of Reform supporters do back Trump’s war

Farage said on 28th February he was in favour of “regime change” in Iran and told a press conference in Westminster: “We should do all we can to support the operation.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/10/nigel-farage-u-turn-uk-iran-war?CMP=share_btn_url

Beard Liberation Front

13th March

Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

BEARD OF IRELAND 2025 VOTE: Shortlist of Four announced

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that competition for the Irish Beard of the Year 2026 is bristling with the shortlist of four contenders announced

The 2017 winner was politician Colum Eastwood who bearded broadcaster William Crawley for the annual Award.

In 2018 the DUP’s Lee Reynolds shaved writer Dominic O’Reilly for the honour with Colum Eastwood in a steady third place.

In 2019 Lee Reynolds retained the title

The 2020 winner was Maynooth academic Peter Coles

In 2021 Aodhan Connolly shaved opponents to win the coveted title and he retained it in 2022 2023 and 2024

In 2025 politician Gerry Carroll won the vote

The BLF says that while traditionally a land of predominantly clean-shaven cultures, Ireland has in recent times become something of a centre for stylish and trendy beards.

Contenders for the title in 2026 include a diverse range of the hirsute- an academic, political activist, a broadcaster, a TV pundit

The campaigners say the poll is specifically about the impact the beard of an individual has made in Irish public life and no other factor.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, competition for the 2026 Beard of Ireland Award is bristling with the winner announced on 17th March.

The vote on-line is pinned @keithbeard.bsky.social and is now open

Beard of Ireland 2026 Shortlist

William Crawley, broadcaster

Roy Keane, football pundit

Peter Coles, academic, Maynooth

Colum Eastwood, politician

At an event organised by hard right site Guido Fawkes last week Farage said he was off to dine at Mar-a-Lago on Friday 6th March as Trump had not fully grasped the issue on the Chagos Islands. The impression given- and reported by most media outlets(and not corrected by Farage) was that he was dining with Trump.

Farage was at Mar-a-Lago but he did not meet or dine with Trump. Only the Financial Times (9th March) reported the reality.

The New World Allister Heath random headline generator as as ever spot on. Heath is the Editor of the Sunday Telegraph

I won’t rehearse further points about YouGov as a polling organisation. Suffice to say this is a large sample and opposition to Trump’s imperial adventures has grown by 10% in the last week. Only Reform supporters are in favour. The margins are sufficiently large for the poll to be correct even if not absolutely correct (highly likely, it is only a poll)