Jodie Kidd and Merlin Griffiths Lift the Lid on Britain’s Beloved Pubs in New Podcast Series

Creative PR agency, The Romans, and longstanding client partner HEINEKEN SmartDispense have teamed up with former model-turned-publican Jodie Kidd and TV barman and landlord Merlin Griffiths to launch a brand-new vodcast: Three Landlords Walk into a Bar ​​to help promote HEINEKEN’S industry leading SmartDispense technology. The series sees the duo pull up a chair with legendary landlords and hospitality titans from some of the UK’s most iconic pubs and bars, to spill the stories, secrets, and sheer graft behind running a great British pub.

It’s a front-row seat to the action behind the bar, revealing the highs, the chaos, and the characters that make our pubs the beating heart of the community - from outrageous customer confessions and emotional moments to surprise celebrity drop-ins.

But it’s also about the future of our pubs. With 62% of Brits saying drink quality is a top priority when picking a pub, the series spotlights the innovative ways publicans are levelling up, using innovative technology from SmartDispense to deliver punters perfect pints every time - while helping them reduce their costs, waste and impact on the environment.

The social-led, B2B campaign helps establish the technology, and its benefits, amongst a core audience of pub owners and workers and is a follow up to last year’s award-winning campaign, Ross Kemp Behind Bars.

Episode one is out now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube and https://smartdispense.heineken.co.uk/link/sdnqrb - featuring Beccy Webster, landlord of The Gedling Inn - who tells the tale of how her spur-of-the-moment promise to give away a free pint every time Nottingham Forest scored turned into a 300-pint giveaway after a 7–0 win.

New episodes will be released every two weeks, featuring an iconic line-up – from the man behind The 'The White Lion' in Stockport, one of the UK’s oldest and most haunted pubs and the man soundtracking Liverpool’s iconic 'Cavern Club and Pub', to the entrepreneurial landlord behind 'The Prince of Peckham' - one of London’s most inclusive, community-first pubs, and the operations manager revolutionising the bar experience across more than 60 Atlas Hotels.

Jordan Kavanagh, associate creative director at The Romans said, “If there are three things The Romans love, its perfect pints, pubs, and briefs that are about perfect pints and pubs, which made this SmartDispense ask a dream. It goes without saying that - although vital to communities and British culture - pubs haven’t had it easy in recent years, which made a platform for knowledge-sharing more important than ever.

“Through this campaign we were able to bring together not only our publican hosts, Jodie and Merlin, but also brilliant landlords from all different walks of life and venues to share stories, lessons and wisdom with others in the industry, and give the public a peek behind the curtain at the same time.”

James Woodman, operations and marketing manager SmartDispense, said, “I’m incredibly proud to be launching this project - SmartDispense is an industry-leading technology for landlords, and I truly believe we have the creative campaign to match it in this series.

“We exist to make running pubs and bars easier and more profitable for landlords, and this creative from The Romans highlights all of this in a way which is informative, but also incredibly engaging. From the perfect hosts to our variety of guests, it’s such a dive into the highs, lows and hoppy middles of running a pub and, of course, how SmartDispense is helping the UK pour the perfect pints every time.”

With this being a recurring campaign and brand awards being a competitive space, our challenge was to uncover new insights and angles that would help us drive fame and cultural relevancy for the awards in 2025.