Struggling pubs have received a helping hand from leading brewer Lion, which has partnered with AHA NSW to allow venues to sell take-away draught beer as part of the Support Your Local campaign. AHA NSW CEO John Whelan said the move would help keep many NSW pubs in business and their staff in jobs during the most difficult time in their history.

The move follows on from Lion’s announcement that it would offer pubs forced to close credit for any unused kegs. Lion has now credited more than 4,000 customers nationally a total of $23.5 million for over 85,000 unused and capped kegs.

It’s a welcome move for patrons who miss a draught beer down at the local, and also means millions of litres of beer won’t go to waste.

Lion has committed to deliver as many amber 1.25 litre bottles and caps, as well as dispensers to be affixed to the tap to fill the bottles as required to help pubs sell through their draught beer right across Australia. 10,000 “growlers” and caps, and 500 dispensers are now on their way to hundreds of pubs across NSW, totally free of charge. This will allow them to provide take-aways of their favourite draught – including Tooheys New, Furphy and James Squire – to customers.

AHA NSW CEO John Whelan said the move would help keep many NSW pubs in business and their staff in jobs during the most difficult time in their history.

“Hotels across NSW have been shut for almost a month now and I know many people are missing a draught beer down at their local with mates,” he said.

"We can’t quite do that yet, but a cold draught beer to take-away is certainly next best.”

“Hotels are the hearts of their communities - especially in regional and suburban areas - and the truth is many are struggling to survive with take-away sales the only form of income.

“This move by Lion will particularly help out many of the small local pubs at a time when they need it most. I thank James Brindley and his team at Lion for this great initiative. Not only does it provide an immediate boost to venues, it prevents millions of litres of draught beer literally going down the drain.”

Lion Managing Director James Brindley said the brewer was committed to doing everything it could to support licensed venues during this challenging period.

“On 23 March we announced immediate support for pubs, in the form of credits for all unused and capped kegs, but we knew many pubs would have tapped kegs sitting in their cool rooms they would still need to get through, and this initiative will make that possible,” Brindley said.

“We have also supported pubs with cleaning procedures for their draught beer systems to keep them in working order, ready and able to open up quickly again when the time comes. Our draught quality team has now cleaned 10,000 couplers and taps for our on-premise customers, and this number will keep growing. So committed to the cause, our team has been doing all this vital work from home.”

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