DRAMATIC LEAP
IN HEINEKEN'S
SHARE IN THE
BRITISH MARKET
What we in Europe call 'Pilsner'-
type beer is traditionally called
'Lager' by an Englishman. The word
originates from 'lagering', which is
the maturing period in the brewery
tanks that this type of beer needs
to complete the fermentation process.
A gradual revolution in British beer-
drinking habits has taken place over
the last five years. Slowly but surely
our British friends are beginning to
drink more and more 'Lager' instead
of their traditional 'Ale', and are now
drinking five times as much of the
former as they did in 1965.
There are various reasons for this
Mr. Mark Tabor, Whitbread's Marketing
Executive, and Mr. J. Ch. Cornelis after the
commissioning ceremony of the 10.000th
draught lager installation, 'commissioned' by
Miss Heineken U.K., at the Pakenham Arms,
London.
Mr. Mark Tabor, directeur du Marketing de
Whitbread, et Monsieur J. Ch. Cornelis (a
droite) après la mise en service de la 10.000-
ème installation de soutirage a Pakenham
Arms, Londres, qui est servie par Miss Hei
neken G.B.
remarkable upsurge in the popular
ity of Lager: one is that it is cool and
refreshing in warm weather, and
another is that due to local brewing,
it is no longer sold at the exorbitant
prices of the past. On top of this, a
greater number of Englishmen travel
abroad these days and acquire a
taste for the Lager they drink when
out of the country. One of the most
popular Lagers in Great Britain is
Heineken, which has shown a faster
rate of growth than any other and
which now accounts for about 20
of the total Lager turnover in
England.
The main reason for this success is
that Heineken is distributed by
Whitbread, Britain's third largest
brewing group, that controls 20
breweries, over 100 distribution
depots and nearly 9,000 pubs. Found
ed in 1742, Whitbread is still very
much a family concern and the
present chairman, Colonel W. H.
Whitbread, is a direct descendant of
the founder.
Imported Heineken in bottles and on
draught has been available in Great
Britain for many years through Hein
eken Limited, a company that was
jointly owned by Heineken N.V. and
Whitbread. During the past two
years, however, sales of draught
beer have increased at such an
astonishing rate over 30 per
annum that Heineken N.V. decid
ed to allow lager bearing its name
to be brewed outside of Holland, in
this case at Whitbread's new multi-
million pound brewery at Luton,
thirty miles North of London. (See
the pictures on the next page).
The tremendous growth of Heineken
sales this year was partly attribut
able to the exceptionally warm
summer, but the main factor has
been Heineken's strongly con
tinental flavour, which has proved
more acceptable to the British drink
ing public than that of other
lagers. Last but not least we must
mention the marvellous efforts of
our good friends of Whitbread's who
launched a splendid Heineken camp
aign at just the right moment, with
as main theme 'There's a terrific
draught at your local'. It involved
television and cinema advertising,
as well as posters and bus sides.
Recently Heineken celebrated the
installation of its 10,000th dispensing
unit at a well-known London pub.
Mr. Cornelis, our Export Director,
performed the ceremony, on which
occasion he once more expressed
the great appreciation we all have in
Holland for the excellent job done by
the Whitbread organisation.