The Two Poplars in Wokingham, run by franchisee Jay Simpson, has been named Hive Franchisee of the Year by Greene King Pub Partners. The award was presented at the company’s Franchise Festival at Leicester Racecourse, which brought together representatives from more than 100 franchise pubs and raised over £4,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Hive is the franchise agreement type that Greene King Pub Partners lists on its own website. The Two Poplars also won the Digital Pub of the Year award at the same ceremony, according to Mr Simpson, and has been named Wokingham Best Pub 2026. Greene King also offers tenancies and leases, but Hive is the one franchise route among the major pub companies, so the award applies to a franchise rather than a tied tenancy, a distinction set out in how to open a pub in the UK.
What the award recognised
Penny Bruce, franchise operations director for Greene King Pub Partners, praised what she called an outstanding all-round performance that combined commercial results with community leadership. She pointed to a thriving events programme, money raised for local causes and support for major community events in Wokingham. The Festival of Music weekend generated particular interest locally, she said. Jay Simpson, who runs the pub with Connor Moorhouse, credited his team and the regulars and said the pub aims to sit at the heart of its community.
The Franchise Festival at Leicester Racecourse
The ceremony was part of a wider celebration for Greene King’s franchise network. It brought together representatives from more than 100 franchise pubs, used a 90s fancy dress theme and raised more than £4,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support through a raffle and a silent auction. The company has not said who else won awards, how the winners were chosen or how many categories there were.
Where Greene King lists its franchise pubs
Greene King Partners publishes Hive pubs as vacancies with an agreement type, an estimated annual turnover, a weekly rent figure and whether private accommodation comes with the pub. One Birkenhead listing seen on 2 October 2026 gave an estimated turnover of £858,000, a weekly rent of “N/A” and an agreement type of Franchise.
How the Hive model differs from a tenancy
Greene King’s pub partner site separates agreement types, and Hive carries the label Franchise while other pubs are let on tenancies or leases. On the Hive listing seen on 2 October, the weekly rent field reads “N/A”. Tenancies and leases of tied pubs in England and Wales fall under the Pubs Code 2016, which regulates pub-owning businesses with 500 or more tied pubs.
What comes next
No estate figure has been given for the Hive network, and Greene King has not said how many Hive pubs it runs or plans to add. The company’s own pub partner site lists the Hive pubs currently available, with the turnover estimates described above, and that list changes as pubs are let.
The listing visible during this check was a single pub in Birkenhead, Merseyside, so it illustrates the format and is not a sample of the network. Anyone considering a Hive pub should read the agreement itself, because the award and the listing say nothing about the terms, and should weigh it against what other food and drink brands recruiting in the UK ask of an operator.
