Nick Stafford, commercial director of SIBA and Andy Slee, Punch buying club director

As a further example of Punch’s commitment to promote beer choice, licensees across the country wishing to further enhance the local feel of their cask offer will, from June, have the option to access ales supplied through the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

Punch licensees who are Cask Marque accredited and already running a successful cask pub business (50 brewer’s barrels or more per annum), will be able to complement their existing offer by sourcing ales via SIBA from local breweries within a 30 mile radius.

Punch buying club director, Andy Slee, explains: “We have been trialling the SIBA Direct Delivery Scheme with around 80 licensees in the North East over the last year. The aim was to look at how local ales can further grow the sales in these pubs and the learning is clear – the best return for all is when a licensee is supplementing their existing thriving cask business with ales sourced through SIBA.”

Nick Stafford, SIBA commercial director, said, “Local ale is the only growing sector of the on-trade beer market and offers licensees another string to their retail bow in attracting customers through their doors. The SIBA DDS trial clearly indicates that, in the right kind of pub, local beers from small brewers can build valuable business for Punch licensees.”

Punch and SIBA are currently in discussions to finalise the details of the roll out and the eligibility of licensees wishing to sign up to the scheme. A comprehensive communications programme in both organisations will be implemented prior to the launch to ensure a smooth roll out.

Andy continues: “Expanding the range and choice of cask ales for our licensees continues to form a central part of our offer. As the number of microbreweries in the UK continues to boom, we are constantly assessing how we can give our new and existing licensees flexibility to source local ales and in turn drive sales.”

“The ‘buy one, get one free of tie’ aspect of our new lease agreement and this latest initiative with SIBA reinforce our commitment to be the best value and most trusted pub partnership business in the UK,” adds Andy.

Punch licensees can already access up to 100 different Cask ales through the company’s existing product range and in addition a further 150 Cask ales are available to members of the ‘Finest Cask’ scheme with over 800 licensees currently participating.

In addition, a similar number are Cask Marque accredited with plans to help more than 1000 achieve this status in the next few months.

And Punch is also working closely with its licensees to help them organise successful beer festivals. Over 100 festivals are already planned for April and the company is hoping to achieve 650 festivals in the year.

Punch Partnerships is the leased division of leading pub company Punch Taverns, which has 6,770 leased and managed pubs nationwide.