Samuel Smith Brewery Owner Humphrey Smith Dies at 81, Ending Era at 1758-founded Firm
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 1
Samuel Smith Brewery Owner Humphrey Smith Dies at 81, Ending Era at 1758-founded Firm
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 1
Summary
Humphrey Smith, who ran Samuel Smith Old Brewery from the 1980s, has died at 81, with Tadcaster lowering the brewery flag to half-mast and local leaders calling it the end of an era.
About 200 UK pubs and a brewery founded in 1758 formed the business he controlled, shaping it with strict house rules that banned mobile phones, music, televisions and swearing.
His tenure also drew repeated controversy through sudden pub closures, manager dismissals and rigid enforcement, including shutdowns in Derby and Bradford and a ban on bikers at one South Yorkshire pub.
Tadcaster residents and CAMRA figures said Smith was both divisive and deeply influential, leaving son Samuel a large pub estate, many closed sites and pressure to modernize some long-criticized rules.