DOUBT surrounds the future of four of St Albans' best-known pubs with the news that their owner, McMullen and Sons, Hertfordshire's only major brewery, is up for sale.

The Hertford company, still owned by the McMullen family who founded it in 1827, announced on Monday that selling the whole business, including 131 pubs across Hertfordshire, Essex and London, was an option under consideration for raising cash for shareholders.

McMullens pubs in St Albans include the Farriers Arms in Lower Dagnall Street, famous to beer lovers across the country as the pub where the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) was formed in 1971.

The Blue Anchor in Fishpool Street, The Camp in Camp Road and The Peahen on the corner of London Road and Holywell Hill make up the St Albans quartet, although there are no longer any McMullens pubs in Harpenden.

Local Camra representative Steve Bury said: "We are very concerned.

"This is a bolt from the blue.

"We have a real nostalgic attachment to McMullens.

"When Camra was formed, The Farriers Arms was one of only two real ale outlets in the city.

"The biggest worry is that traditional McMullens beers may stop being brewed.

"We hope it is bought by another independent, and not an overseas brewer."

Mr Mike Benner, Camra's head of campaigns, said: "While selling the business as a whole may have short-term gains for shareholders, the price for local drinkers would be huge.

"There will be the loss of the region's key brewery and the pubs falling into the hands of a pub chain or rival brewer."

Mrs Pam Martin, of the St Albans Civic Society, said: "Our main worry is that when pubs are taken over by chains, they may alter the names established in the history of the city, as well as what happens to the interior."

It has been speculated that the company could go for £200 million, and that Suffolk brewer Greene King could be a buyer.

Although chairman David McMullen was keen to continue brewing, his brother Ian and cousin John, who between them control a majority of the shares, voted to ask financial consultants to look at ways of turning their holdings into cash.

Managers and tenants in St Albans, who met production and sales director Fergus McMullen, son of Mr John McMullen, on Tuesday, declined to comment.

A spokesman for the company said the decision had only just been taken.

And he added that it was too early to say whether all or just some of the pubs would be sold.

He also said it was too early to say whether they would continue as public houses, or whether the distinctive brews AK and Country Bitter would disappear.

He could make no comment on the likely effect on the 1,030 people employed in the brewery, the head office and the 96 managed houses.