Old Speckled Hen is the brewery's flagship ale

The Suffolk company said sales of Old Speckled rose 12% in the 36 weeks to 11 January against the same time last year.

Other beers made by the Bury St Edmunds-based group's brewing division also sold well, with Greene King IPA up 3% on the same period last year, Abbot Ale 4% higher and sales of Ruddles increasing by 1%.

Demand for both Abbot and Old Speckled has surged in recent months following a sustained marketing campaign by the group.

Greene King owns more than 1,650 pubs and also sells its beer through free houses, other pub chains, supermarkets and retailers.

Pre-tax profits of �81m

It said it continued to sell more of its beer via external channels, while its pubs estate continued to do well.

Like-for-like sales from 520 of the group's 549 managed pubs increased by 3.4%.

The company's leased and tenanted division, Pub Partners, increased beer sales by 4% while total like-for-like turnover was 6.2% up.

Greene King said trading profit margins in its managed pubs had remained strong at 17.2% while margins from leased and tenanted pubs jumped 41.4%.

The group said the figures were in line with expectations.