Young's won't back down over Rising Sun lease

June 24, 2006: Brewer Young's is refusing to back down as it seeks to enforce a rule to sell only its own products in a pub it has purchased in Surrey.

David and Ruth Roberts have run the Rising Sun, Epsom, since 1999 on a Punch Taverns free-of-tie lease, which has allowed them to stock a wide range of draft and bottled beers, including the Pilgrim Ales they brew themselves.

But Young's is digging its heels in and insisting the cornucopia of choice must end - or David and Ruth will be out.

David told the This is Hertfordshire website: "It's killing off choice when our customers know which beers are better.

"We have people from Wimbledon who call us their local. I know of 10 or 12 people who have moved house just to be near us. Everyone is distraught."

But a Young's spokesman responded: "We spent £900,000 to buy this pub and we haven't bought it to sell other people's beer. If people don't like it, they can drink somewhere else.

"We have 210 pubs, and have never before come across a case where someone has refused to comply with our conditions. We have bent over backwards to accommodate this landlord."

n Find out more at the Save the Riser website