More reasons to shop at Morrisons, or so the advertising
jingle goes, and whilst Morrisons is not up there amongst the market leaders in
the grocery trade, it can occasionally surprise its customers. Northern-based Morrisons is the 5th largest supermarket chain in the UK, known for
its competitive pricing and commitment to sourcing British produce. Whilst not
positioned as a premium supermarket, Morrisons is known for its high standards
in fresh food categories like meat, fish, and vegetables, and is a favourite
for those who don’t want to break the bank.
For many years, Morrisons had a presence locally, with a
medium-sized store in Tunbridge Wells, next to the town’s rail station. That
closed several years ago, but now the company is making something of a comeback,
by setting up a number of small, one-stop-style, convenience stores. We have
one of these outlets in Tonbridge, a store that was run as part of the
International chain, a group that was the successor of the Home & Colonial
Stores. As the name suggests, the company dated back to the days of empire. The
Tonbridge International became a Gateway store and then a Somerfield store, before eventually morphing
into one of the Pound Shop chains.
The latter eventually closed, as after all there’s a limit
to the amount of cut-priced tat that the market can support, and this is when
Morrisons stepped in. The majority of the building was demolished and then
re-built as flats and apartments, to suit Tonbridge’s growing status as a
dormitory town, but the ground floor unit, fronting onto the High Street, has remained
as a retail unit, which is now occupied by Morrisons. With a High Street
position suited to attract impulse buyers and lunchtime shoppers, this Morrisons Daily is deservedly doing very well, but imagine my surprise when the
Christmas before last, I called in for some last-minute shopping and discovered
the store is now selling beers from one of Britain’s most respected family
brewers.
We’re talking about a range of bottled beers from Harvey
& Son (Lewes) Ltd, a situation that is very unusual, because Harvey’s used
to have a policy of not supplying their beers to national chains, or supermarkets.
Staunchly conservative, Samuel Smith of Tadcaster, still operate such a policy,
and used it as one of the USP’s that set them apart from off-licence chains, or
supermarkets. I remember one of their sales managers explaining this to me,
over the phone, when we first opened our own, staunchly, independent
off-licence!
Fast forward to a couple of days ago, when a message on the
local CAMRA Beer Social WhatsApp group, alerted me that 5 litre, metal kegs, of
Harvey’s XXXX Old Ale were being sold at Tonbridge Morrison’s, for the bargain
price of £24.99 each. In other words, £5 per litre of this dark, and delicious,
seasonal old ale! The following morning, I called in at the store, on my way to
work, and grabbed one of the two kegs remaining on the shelf, along with a
selection of Harvey’s bottles.
At the till, I expressed my surprise (and
pleasure) at seeing these mini kegs on sale. The person serving me, said they’d
been selling quickly, and the store was looking to order in some more. Today, I
just happened to call and saw they had all gone although, in their place were a
number of Harvey’s Best Bitter kegs. Earlier in the week, I mentioned the Harvey’s kegs to a work colleague,
who thought that the smaller, Morrisons Daily stores operate on a franchise basis,
which allows quite a bit of autonomy for managers/franchisees. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but it might explain the very welcome appearance of Harvey’s beers, in one of our local supermarkets.
I shall leave broaching the keg until a few days before Christmas, but earlier today I called in at the town’s Organic Village Market, an interesting establishment that often carries an interesting range of beers. The shop is normally a good bet for Westerham Brewery bottles, and occasionally you might come across Samuel Smith’s. Even rarer, are the German beers that are sometimes in stock, and today, I was even luckier, as the Organic Market had just received a shipment of beers from Bamberg. Needless to say, I bought a few, despite their £3.99 price tag. As with the Harvey’s kegs, I shall be adding the German bottles to my Christmas stash. Much as I detest that corny old, crooner’s song, I can safely say “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”.
