Like everyone else in the on-trade, Stuart Bateman of Lincolnshire-based Batemans wants to see pubs open ‘as soon as possible’ – however the Salem Bridge brewer isn’t buying into the idea of a Government witch hunt. Just shy of 150 years ago, George and Susannah Bateman founded what would become George Bateman and Sons, to supply Lincolnshire farmers who paid their land workers in beer, money and crops. Though Batemans no longer remunerates in pints or produce – the family brewer-cum-operator of some 50 pubs across the east of England managed to pay its first ever company bonus in February and forecast a record year for both production and profit during 2020 according to current managing director Stuart Bateman.