London Pub Wars

OK 'pub wars' is a bit of an exaggeration, but there's certainly some vigorous business manoeuvring going on .

The Capital Pub Company own 34 pubs across London, most notably locally they recently relaunched the New Cross House (formerly the Goldsmiths Tavern). They also run the Victoria in Peckham, the Florence in Herne Hill and both the Actress and the Bishop in East Dulwich.

The larger Fuller, Smith and Turner is both a pub owner and a brewer. They have pubs in Rotherhithe and Bermondsey (including The Leather Exchange in the latter) and also run The Pilot in Greenwich, though they don't have much presence further south in London.

Now Fuller's has made it clear that it wishes to take over Capital Pubs. Its bid to buy it has been rejected by the Capital board, but the Financial Times reports that an attempted hostile takeover might be on the cards, with Fuller's trying to buy up shares in Capital to gain a controlling interest.

Not sure what this all means for drinkers or indeed pub staff. Both Capital and Fuller's have a good reputation among beer enthusiasts, but larger and larger chains don't always bode well for diversity of drinking establishments.