Salford-based brewer and pub retailer Hydes has crowned the 2024 winner of its annual ‘Pub Factor’ singing competition.

Samm Lawrence, an employee at popular Hydes pub The Sam Brooks in Sale, was voted the overall winner, performing the 2013 ballad ‘Say Something’ by Great Big World and Christina Aguilera, scooping a £1000 cash prize for her live rendition of the hit song.

The event, which has been running for the past three years, attracts entrants from across Hydes’ managed and tenanted sites throughout the North West.

For this year’s contest, heats were held across 14 Hydes sites during September with a prize fund of £100 for each winner. Each individual heat winner was invited to take part in the grand final at The Cross Keys in Cheadle to compete for the grand prize of £1000.

At this year’s fiercely contested final, all pub heat winners performed a song of their choice. A specially invited guest judging panel shortlisted the best three performers who then sang again to win. This year’s judging panel was chaired by guest judge, Victor Amara, head of sales & partnerships at Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I. The event was supported by Stella Artois. The evening is compered by managing director of Hydes Brewery, Adam Mayers.

The panel all agreed that this year’s winning finalist Samm was the resounding winner. The inaugural winner of Hydes Pub Factor in 2022 was Beth McCroy from The Royal Oak in Prestwich. Last year’s winner was Jess McGlinchey from The Commercial in Burnley.

Winner Samm Lawrence, said: “I’m thrilled to have won and the whole event was great fun although it was quite nerve-wracking at the grand final, singing in front of so many people. The £1,000 prize will come in very handy and I’m very grateful to Hydes, which is a fantastic organisation to be a part of. It does a lot for its employees and there’s a great team spirit throughout the company.”

Adam Mayers commented: “Pub Factor is a great evening in the Hydes calendar and provides a great opportunity for team members from across our managed and tenanted pubs to get together and have a good time. Even though the competition is meant to be fun, I’ve noticed that the standard gets better and better every year. We’ve got some very talented people working with us and there are future plans to invite previous winners and runners-up for a champion of champions event.

“We’re keen to build a strong sense of community with our pub teams. Holding regular events such as this and our annual ale trail in November, helps to build relationships and is one of the reasons we are very successful at retaining team members, which is uncommon in the hospitality sector. Running a Hydes pub means tenants and their teams become part of a regional brewer that is one of the few still owned and managed as a thriving family business. As demonstrated by many of our longest-standing tenants, running a Hydes pub can be a rewarding and enjoyable way of life. The fact that some tenants have been operating our pubs successfully for 20 years’ shows that creating and maintaining strong working relationships is key to Hydes.”

Hydes, with its brewery in Media City, Salford, was formed in 1863 and supplies beers to wholesalers, pub companies and other brewers throughout the UK and a pub retailing estate of over 40 pubs across the North West of England and North Wales.

To find out more about Hydes Brewery visit https://www.hydesbrewery.com/.