The taste that is there is pleasant , some bitterness there , not as sweet as it smells , but still a little caramel on the aftertaste. Dee resigned in 1997, and he was replaced in 1998 with a cardboard cut-out known as the "No Nonsense Man", from the GGT advertising agency. It has sponsored the Northumberland Plate since 2003, and more than 90 "No Nonsense" race days are held throughout the year at 28 jump and flat racecourses across the UK. In 1982, the John Smith's brands included Yorkshire Bitter, Magnet Pale Ale, Export Pale, Sweet Stout, Double Brown and Magnet Old.

The campaign won a large number of advertising industry awards, and was featured on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. John Smith's became well known for a series of highly successful "No Nonsense"-themed television advertising campaigns, featuring the dour Yorkshireman character "Arkwright" during the 1970s and 1980s (shown only in the South of England), followed by the comedians Jack Dee during the 1990s and Peter Kay since 2002.Immediate impression on drinking this was how light it was, definitely wasn’t as strong as I had remembered it. The Dee campaign won fifty advertising awards, and helped to turn the rising comedian into a household name. John Smith's is the number one most loved ale in the UK, providing a good honest pint for good honest blokes. Following a series of acquisitions in the post- World War II period, the company became one of the largest regional brewers in the country, operating over 1,800 licensed premises.

The brand also has an association with horse racing: it was the principal sponsor of the Grand National between 2005 and 2013, the Northumberland Plate from 2003 until 2016, and has sponsored the John Smith's Cup since 1960. We've been supporting the community values in our Tadcaster birthplace since 1758, and ever since John Smith took on the brewery in 1852, we've been brewing a consistently high quality ale that's.William Smith died in 1886, and the firm was inherited in partnership by his two nephews, Henry Herbert Riley (1863 - 1911) and Frank Riley, henceforth known as Riley-Smith under the terms of his will.