This is a wild story. I enjoy a Samuel Smith beer once or twice a year, but never knew much about the company. Turns out they're like a Bizarro McMenamin's: buying historic pubs and buildings just to close them, shutting down pubs for patrons swearing, destroying centers of community, yet also obsessed with old-style brewing. Genuinely the weirdest beer business story I've ever read.
Humphrey’s world: how the Samuel Smith beer baron built Britain’s strangest pub chain
Since the 1970s, Humphrey Smith has acquired scores of pubs and historic properties around the UK. But time after time, he has left the buildings empty. Why has he allowed his empire to moulder?
theguardian.com