Pub chains

From Ukcider

'Pubcos' and breweries often impose a cider tie on their pubs. Usually this is Strongbow only, but you will sometimes find a more enlightened pub owner that provides its tenants/managers with better ciders.

Pub companies known to supply real cider

• Wetherspoon - national chain with various bottles and bag-in-a-box Westons in most outlets, though commitment declining
• Adnams - Suffolk brewery, with a strong presence in neighbouring counties, now stocking Aspall (keg but much better than Strongbow/Blackthorn et al) as the standard cider in its pubs.
• Hook Norton Brewery - Oxfordshire brewery which supplies Westons Old Rosie (as well as Stowford Press and Strongbow) to those of its pubs where tenants choose to take it
• Moles Brewery - South-West/Wessex area; supplies its own Black Rat cider
• Tynemill - much-lauded East Midlands group, supplies ciders from Westons, Broadoak etc. (though some pubs take only Stowford Press)
• All Bar One - national bar chain has recently started selling Aspalls at the expense of Magners, according to this story
• SA Brains, the Cardiff-based brewer, sells Gwynt y Ddraig
• Punch Taverns, the largest pubco in Britain, offers a range of Thatchers bottles to its tenants: Katy, Cox's, Oak Matured and Gold (source) Also has Westons Old Rosie / Perry / Organic available on draught (at least in the northwest)
• Scream student pubs stock bottled Brothers cider.
• Mitchells & Butlers have an unbranded urban chain which sells draught and bottled Westons (Jericho Tavern and Cape of Good Hope in Oxford, The Mall in Clifton, etc.) - easily identified as pubs which sell Casterbridge beef burgers
• 'Super-regional' Wolverhampton & Dudley, also known as Marstons, recently acquired Wychwood Brewery and their bottled Green Goblin (made by Thatchers) is showing up in more W&D pubs

If you've visited one of the above companies' pubs and can verify that it serves real cider, please add it to the Cider Pub Guide.

Pub companies which may supply real cider

These are pub companies where real cider has been sighted in at least one pub. If you visit another of their pubs, do report back here.

• Vale Brewery
• Mitchells of Lancaster Former brewer based in Lancaster, now selling a range of independant brewers products. At least three of their pubs sell a draught Westons Cider, it can only be a matter of time before more do.

Pub companies which don't supply real cider

Too many to mention, but Greene King (aka 'Greede Kerching') deserves special criticism for their aggressive promotion of real ale (often through buying up regional breweries) but complete lack of interest in real cider.