(more news....)
Martin Wainwright Monday August 9, 2004 The Guardian
One of Britain's most famous bars is facing ruin at the hands of one the biggest independent pub chains, according to devotees of beer and jam roly-poly who claim they are being shouldered aside in a bid to attract free-spending thirtysomethings.
Devoted regulars at Whitelock's in Leeds, the star of films, novels and scores of international guidebooks, are appealing for a "rebellion of old farts of all ages" to save an atmosphere hymned by the late poet laureate Sir John Betjeman, the actor Peter O'Toole and the writer Keith Waterhouse.
The row is raising wider concern about the effect on "character pubs" of the industry's newest player, the Spirit Group, which joined the big league at one jump last November when it bought Scottish and Newcastle's pub estate, including Whitelock's.
An internal briefing to staff at the 300-year-old tavern says the bar is to become a "city day pub" under a programme for Spirit's 2,400 pubs code named Springboard.
"This is a method of streamlining the Spirit pubs into groups," says the document. It also portrays two fictional target customers called Mick and Ruth, managers who drive a BMW and drink pinot grigio wine.
But Iain Loe, research director of the Campaign for Real Ale, who warned of the risk to one-off pubs like Whitelock's from "the same, cloned pubs on every corner, like Starbucks".
Camra and other groups, possibly including Leeds city council, which almost always takes official guests to the bar, are now launching a campaign to reverse the planned changes.
"My guess is that with Whitelock's, the Spirit Group don't even know what a treasure they own," said David Tong, a regular of 30 years. "I can't see why else anyone would want to turn something unique into a clone of everywhere else."
Whitelock's ranks alongside institutions such as the Authors' Lounge in Bangkok and the Shanghai Club's Long Bar in guides to the world's great drinking places.