Scream (It’s a Scream)

Region

United Kingdom

Associated With

Six Continents PLC - Scream brand operator in 2002

Defining Feature

Yellow Card discounts at student-focused pubs

Status

Unresolved - brand conversions were under way by January 2015

Overview

Scream was a UK student-pub brand built around campus locations, events and Yellow Card savings.

Launched in 1995 and often presented as It’s a Scream, the chain targeted 18–25-year-olds near universities and student housing. Its offer mixed food and drink promotions with games, live music, dancing, sports nights and quizzes.

Six Continents counted 90 sites in 2002. Stonegate still called Birmingham’s Hare of the Dog a Scream pub in 2012, but by January 2015 several former sites were being converted to a newer student format. The final national withdrawal date is unknown.

Why It Mattered

The Yellow Card gave students a practical reason to choose a Scream pub: a lower price at the bar. A student account of The Library in Leeds specifically mentioned those savings, showing how the chain’s student identity extended beyond its signs and themed nights into the cost of a visit.

Estate Growth and Company Counts

• Six Continents recorded 71 Scream sites at 30 September 2000, 85 in 2001 and 90 in 2002.
• A May 2003 Scream promotional feature claimed 88 pubs in UK university towns; this was a company claim rather than an independent count.
• Marketing Week quoted a Six Continents communications director saying the brand had added 82 sites since its 1995 launch.

Yellow Card and Scottish Licensing

• In 2004, Glasgow Licensing Board required alcohol offers to be removed from the local Yellow Card scheme while food discounts continued; the reported membership of more than 6,000 applied only to Glasgow.
• A 2010 Dundee appeal found that fixed cardholder and non-cardholder prices at the Nether Inn did not breach Scotland’s 72-hour price-variation rule because neither price changed during that period.
• Trade reporting identified the Nether Inn scheme as the Yellow Card; the inspected legal review did not use the Scream or Yellow Card name.

Local Reactions, Refits and Conversion

• In 1998, Newcastle University’s student newspaper reported opposition to a proposed It’s a Scream pub in Durham; the report does not establish that it opened.
• A 2012 refurbishment of Birmingham’s Hare of the Dog was intended to remove multicoloured décor and an illuminated sign while retaining Yellow Card discounts.
• By January 2015, thirteen sites in Stonegate’s newer student format were reported as open or imminent, including conversions of former Scream pubs; the last Scream venue was not identified.

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