CIRCA 200 YEARS OF BREWING AND PUB HERITAGE
McMullen’s (or Macs, as it’s informally known) has been brewing beer and running pubs since 1827. Together beer and pubs have been the backbone and soul of our business from the start. The land at the Woolpack pub in Hertford was acquired in 1832 and today’s AK has origins back to 1833. From the past we bring solid and reliable traditional family business practices and behaviours, to be blended with contemporary thinking and a desire to adapt to an ever changing and challenging world.
1827
The Very Beginning
Our business was founded by Peter McMullen, the 4th son of 11 children. After an inauspicious start (a failed apprentice and a conviction for poaching) young Peter, under the robust guidance of his wife Sarah (who, in reflection, has pride of place in our Boardroom), started to settle down and build a business that has now lasted seven generations. The son of immigrants, Peter died having grown respectable and laid the foundation for the company. Nearly a dozen of our pubs today, and beers including our IPA, come from Peter’s time.
1860
Osmond H
Peter’s younger sons, mainly Osmond H., drive the business forwards during the Victorian era surviving and thriving during a period of great consolidation in the industry. Our pub estate grows significantly. On average we have owned our existing pubs for over a century demonstrating a long-term commitment to, and an ability to guardian, sustainable pubs.
1897
P. McMullen & Sons
The original partnership of P.McMullen & Sons (specifically Peter and his sons – rather than an indication an exclusion of the female line in perpetuity) incorporates into a company – McMullen & Sons Limited. Assets are valued at £173,618 (c£18m in today’s money) reflecting the steady growth of a business in a competitive environment. By 1902 the brewery is the second largest holder of pubs in Hertfordshire. Of over 1,284 brewing companies in the UK at the turn of the century over 98% have not survived to today as independent businesses making Macs a rare survivor.
1927
Nag's Head, Covent Garden
Osmond H’s son, Osmond R, acquires the freehold to the Nags Head in Covent Garden for £7,500. However, it is subject to a lease in favour of Whitbread so he knows that the family will not be able to trade it until 1982 – an example of long-term business planning that we try to reflect in our decisions today.
1946
Colonel Peter McMullen
Osmond R dies and, on their return from World War 2, his two sons find death duties being charged at more than the value of the business. Colonel Peter, a robust former S.O.E. commander, fights in determination to protect all those that rely on the business – particularly those returning from serving their country to find their jobs at risk. The family house and all the contents (except a gate and a picture) are sold among other things, and the tax is discharged in 1954. Peter saves the company, but it has been nearly bankrupted by inheritance tax.
1983/4
Spice of Life, Soho
The business’s balanced investment in beer and pubs continues. A new brewery is completed under John McMullen and the Spice of Life in London is acquired. The 1989 Beer Orders loom over the business but Macs are too small to be affected.
2002
The Whole Hop Brewery
The company opens the Whole Hop Brewery, the most recent in a continuous line of six breweries on site where our brewers have crafted their beers drawing water from the chalk aquifer 140ft below their feet. The new brewery symbolises the shareholders’ resolute commitment to continue our brewing trade.
2017
Rivertown Brewing
Having strongly innovated with craft beers in the 1990s with hoppy lagers and no/low beers, after a period of slight dormancy, Rivertown’s kegged range was launched to focus on contemporary tastes and to react to a national decline in traditional cask beers.
Today
Macs continues to remain true and focused on its Purpose – “To Ensure that Generations can Rely on Macs” – and this means generations of our guests, team, suppliers, business partners, communities and, yes, even the Treasury. We understand a lot of people rely on us and balancing these needs continues to guide our decision making.
2027
And Beyond
Macs will have served the communities around its pubs for 200 years. As a successful and stable business, it will have provided valuable and stable employment, reliable business for local suppliers, and significant tax receipts (during the current generation estimated to be c£1bn) to fund our public services. This growth and stability has taken generations of commitment of time and money.