A South-West London pub chain has discontinued loyalty cards in its franchises due to the financial impact of lockdown.

Branches of the Big Smoke Brewery Co. in Esher announced on Facebook on April 6 that customers will no longer be able to collect stamps and earn a free pint at their pubs.

The Brewery currently has five pubs in London and the South East, including the Albion in Kingston and the Antelope in Surbiton. Three more are due to open this year.

Big Smoke co-founders James Morgan and Richard Craig said in the statement to customers: "As everyone is well aware, the last year of lockdowns and enforced closures on the hospitality industry has had a huge financial impact on companies like ours.

"We have relied on government loans, grants and the furlough scheme to help keep our heads above water but we're certainly not out of the woods yet.

"In an effort to alleviate some of this financial strain we have taken the very difficult decision to stop our free pint loyalty system when our pubs reopen.

"Anyone who has a card may continue to collect stamps on them but we will not be issuing any more cards.

"This is not a decision that we have taken lightly, we know how much the free pints mean to so many of our customers but we hope that you understand our reasons for making the change."

Since the cards were introduced in 2014, the Brewery has given away more than 80,000 free pints of beer to customers at a cost to the company of £180,000, the two added.

They plan to introduce a different loyalty scheme soon with benefits and rewards for every pound customers spend in pubs and on their web-shop.

Next week on April 12 pubs across the UK will to be able to re-open their outside areas and serve food and drinks to customers.