Wetherspoons’ relationship with its biggest beer supplier, AB InBev, is in jeopardy in an extraordinary legal row that lifts the lid on a pricing dispute between one the UK’s largest pub chains and the world’s biggest brewer.
In November 2021, JD Wetherspoon appointed ABI’s UK subsidiary, Budweiser Brewing Group, as its lead brewer on a 20-year contract, displacing Heineken after 41 years.
The deal stipulated that Wetherspoons, founded by Tim Martin in 1979, would display a pre-agreed number of ABI’s beers, which include Budweiser and Stella Artois, on the “T-bars” that sit atop the bars in its 843 pubs. The high court dispute concerns which company was responsible for that work.
Wetherspoons claims both companies assumed ABI was responsible, arguing it was standard industry practice. ABI denies this, saying the work must be subject to a separate agreement.
- The Sunday Times. To read the full story click here
