History

McMullens was founded in 1827 in Railway Street, Hertford. As the business grew larger it moved first to Mill Bridge in 1832 and then to Old Cross in 1891. A modern brewhouse was built in 1984. In 2002, the business was valued at £176m. In the mid 2000s the company had a narrow escape from closure as the controlling family split between those shareholders who wanted to receive a reasonable dividend and those who wanted to reinvest annual profits into the company and keep dividends very low. David McMullen stepped down as Chairman following an unsuccessful attempted management buyout. A new independent Chairman, Charles Brims, produced a compromise whereby several non-brewing property investments were sold to release cash to appease the majority shareholders and a plan was launched to build a brand new, smaller brewhouse. The company decided to shed contract-brewing and take advantage of tax breaks by becoming a smaller brewer. As the new 'Whole Hop Brewery' (opened 2006) was much more compact than the 1984-built site the spare land was sold to Sainsbury's.

Brief details

McMullens brews cask ale

Cask ale

Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure...

 and pasteurised bottled beers. The company owns over 130 freehold pubs mainly operating in the Home Counties and with a number of pubs in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 including The Spice of Life (Cambridge Circus) and The Nags Head in Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

. McMullens is acquisitive and has recently purchased pubs and bars in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Sevenoaks, Fleet, Marlow, Milton Keynes and Bishops Stortford. The company has no debt.

Beers

McMullens produce three regular cask ales and several occasional ales.
The regular range consists of

• Original AK, 3.7% abv
• McMullen's Cask ale, a new, hoppy ale launched 2006, 3.8% abv
• Country, 4.3%

Mcmullens brew a guest beer every month which is available for a limited period of time, these can include their IPA, Tooty Fruity, McDuff, Harvest Moon amongst others.
The beers are advertised with the tagline 'from the whole hop brewery'.

External links

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