Class A

Gran left you the pub. And the debt.

A British tycoon game set in a Norfolk village in 1999. Pay off the brewery from the back room of your late gran's pub, keep PC Brannigan off your back and see in the millennium with the keys still in your pocket.

Watch the film See the screenshots

In development for Windows PC

Read the story

Serving Grenston and districtPrice 25p

Wednesday 1 September 1999

Gran's pub left to grandchild

Brewery wants £20,000 back. The first £2,000 is due by Millennium Eve.

The Smuggler's Arms, a stone pub with hanging baskets, at dusk.
The Smuggler's Arms on the green, last night.

The Smuggler's Arms has a new landlord. Since Gran's passing the pub is yours, along with her cellar, her allotment shed and a debt to Hallam & Pike Brewery.

Mr Crowther of Hallam & Pike says Gran owed £20,000. The first £2,000 must be paid by midnight on 31 December or the brewery takes the pub. The rest falls due in growing instalments over the years to come.

Dot, Gran's oldest friend, still works the bar. She knows where Gran's special mushrooms grow. Behind the bar sits Gran's old customer book.

The brewery only takes clean money. The pub till can help with that.

How it plays

Grow it. Bag it. Wash it. Pay the brewery.

You play in first person, on foot or on a scooter. Each in-game day is a month of 1999 and lasts 48 minutes. Sleep in Gran's bed to save.

  1. Grow

    Start with Gran's mushroom patch at the bottom of the beer garden. Then pot up herbs under a lamp in the cellar or her allotment shed. Water twice a day and keep the light on.

  2. Dry and bag

    Hang the crop on Gran's rack, then bag it at her workbench. Steady care grows good or premium stock. It sells for more.

  3. Sell

    Offer a neighbour a taste. If they like it they text you. Meet them at the bench, the bus stop or the churchyard, on time, with what they asked for.

  4. Wash

    Deals pay in dirty cash. The pub till turns it clean, £300 a day and more on a busy night.

  5. Pay up

    Log in to Gran's PC in the cellar and pay Hallam & Pike from the bank. Clear the £2,000 by Millennium Eve and the party goes ahead.

The Smuggler's Arms

Everything starts at the bar

The pub is the heart of the game. Dot works the bar. Regulars drift in through the afternoon and fill the room by nine.

They pair off to chat, take the tables, laugh at each other's stories and get up for another pint when the glass runs dry. Any of them might be a customer.

Gran's stereo sits behind the bar. Through the back, the cellar holds her drying rack, her workbench and her PC. Out front, the green, the market cross and PC Brannigan's beat.

Overheard in Grenston

  • That bypass will never open. I should know. I'm building it.

    A builder

  • I'm a consultant. Mostly I consult the racing pages.

    Between jobs

  • I hear everything in that chair. Everything.

    The hairdresser

  • Rain by Thursday. My knee says so.

    A gardener

In the game

A whole village to work

  • PC Brannigan

    The village bobby walks his beat round the green. Whatever you carry gives off a smell. A meter by the hotbar shows how much. Get noticed and he calls you over for a search. Run and he gives chase on foot.

  • Townsfolk

    Every house is lived in. Each resident has a name, a job, a daily routine and a front door of their own. They keep to the footways, look both ways and stop for a chat.

  • Gran's PC

    Dream OS 99, with dial-up and a teal desktop. It runs the brewery account and a mail-order catalogue that delivers to the pub step next morning. On Millennium Eve it runs its Y2K check.

  • The brick phone

    Customers text you from nine in the morning to ten at night. Accept a deal and a meet spot goes in your journal. M unfolds a paper road map marked in biro.

  • Grenston Hardware

    Walk the shelves and pay at the till. Plant pots, a grow lamp, a drying rack and a watering can, plus a kick scooter and a moped in the window. Prices creep up every month.

  • Fishing with Reg

    Buy a rod at the corner shop, cast from the towpath and time the strike. Sell the catch to the pub kitchen. Reg, a retired postman, knows the deep pool.

  • The Lock-Ins

    Grenston's pub band releases singles through the autumn. The Gazette runs the story, the corner shop sells the CD and Gran's stereo adds it to the playlist.

  • Weather and light

    Clear, grey or misty days with wind that turns the mill's sails. The sun rises over the fields and sodium lamps light the streets after dark.

The village

Grenston, Norfolk

Flat land, brick and flint cottages, clay roofs and a mill on the rise. Small enough to learn by heart and full of corners to stash things in.

  • The green and the market place

    The stone cross, the shops, benches and the Union Flag. The Smuggler's Arms looks across it all.

  • High Street

    Bends through the village from the old railway to the bypass works. Terraces, a red phone box and lock-up garages round the back.

  • The farm

    A brick barn, a Dutch barn full of bales, a thatched farmhouse, a red tractor and the windmill on the rise.

  • Gran's allotment

    Her shed is a quiet second base, a walk from the pub. Set up kit there and keep the risk away from the bar.

  • The church

    At the top of Church Lane, through a thatched lych gate. The churchyard is a handy place to meet.

  • The river and the mere

    Willows, reeds, benches and a towpath for fishing. The old bridge is shut for repairs, for now.

The edges of the map open as the story moves on. The bridge, the bypass and the bricked-up railway tunnel all lead somewhere in later chapters.

The film

A day in Grenston

The film that plays behind the game's main menu. Sunrise at the mill to night on the square, recorded in the game.

Screenshots

Scenes from Grenston

Taken in the game during development. Click any picture to see it full size.

The years ahead

From brick phones to drones

The story runs from 1999 to the present day. Each era jumps the clock forward, brings new kit and makes the police sharper. The first chapter is the Millennium.

  1. First chapter

    Millennium

    1999 to 2003

    Phone
    A brick phone with texts. Phone boxes.
    PC
    Dream OS with its 90s skin. Dial-up.
    Money
    Cash and a building society book.
    Police
    A village bobby on foot.

  2. Later chapter

    Noughties

    2004 to 2008

    Phone
    A flip phone with a camera.
    PC
    A 2000s skin. Broadband.
    Money
    Online banking.
    Police
    Patrol cars and CCTV in town.

  3. Later chapter

    Crypto

    2009 to 2015

    Phone
    The first smartphones.
    PC
    A hidden marketplace.
    Money
    Bitcoin.
    Police
    Number plate cameras.

  4. Later chapter

    Today

    2016 onwards

    Phone
    Smartphone apps.
    PC
    A modern skin.
    Money
    Contactless and crypto.
    Police
    Sniffer dogs and drones.

Later chapters also add powders with a mixing game of invented ingredients, cars, staff to run deals for you and more of the map.

Getting caught

Pick how much a nicking costs

SettingEasyNormalHardcore
Caught carryingStash taken and a small fine. Sent straight home.Stash taken and a fine. A night in the cells costs you the rest of the day.As Normal, plus a criminal record.
Knock-onNone.Customers you stood up buy less for a while.A third arrest means a court date. Court ends the game.
PoliceSlower to notice the smell.Standard.Quicker to notice. Search more often.

Development

Where it's at

Updated 19 October 2026.

Playable now

  • The first chapter from Dot's tip to the Happy New Year screen
  • The re-laid village, the farm, the river and the mere
  • A lively pub with seated regulars and Dot behind the bar
  • Growing, drying, bagging, samples and meets
  • PC Brannigan, smell and stop and search
  • Gran's PC, the brick phone and the paper map
  • Grenston Hardware, the scooter and the moped
  • Fishing, weather, birds and music

Up next

  • A walk-in corner shop and a clothes shop with hidden pockets
  • A new game screen with a character creator and three save slots
  • Hiring Dot as part of the story
  • Traffic on the village roads
  • A dozen hand-written townsfolk, Reg's fishing trip and Mr Crowther at the wake
  • A timed play-through to balance the numbers, then a Windows build

Questions

FAQ

When can I play it?

There is no public build yet. The first chapter plays from start to finish in development. A Windows build follows once the numbers are balanced.

What will it run on?

Windows PC first.

Is there any violence?

None. There are no guns and no fights. PC Brannigan arrests you. The difficulty you chose sets what happens next.

What do you actually sell?

Herbs and mushrooms in the first chapter, with powders in later ones. Every product, strain and blend has an invented name. The powder mixing game uses made-up ingredients with made-up effects.

What age rating will it have?

We expect PEGI 18. The game plays it for laughs, but its loop still rewards dealing.

Why 1999?

Brick phones, dial-up, phone boxes and a village bobby on foot. The story then moves through the decades to the present day. The kit and the police move with it.

Who is making it?

Class A is made by Mad Beans Games in Unity.

Last orders are a way off yet

Class A is in development. Follow Mad Beans Games for news of the first build.

Visit Mad Beans Games Watch the film