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16th October 2018

Local Heroes

James Staughton, Tamsyn Hawkins and Jeremy Mitchell picking up the Pub Champions Award

St Austell Brewery has been crowned Pub Champions 2018 at one of the UK drinks industry’s biggest nights out, the British Beer & Pub Awards (BBPA) dinner at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

The BBPA awards celebrate and recognise outstanding achievements gained by key individuals and organisations within the business, with the title of Pub Champion awarded to the company that has worked consistently to secure pubs for future generations to enjoy in a constantly changing market.

Picking up the award, Brewery Chief Executive James Staughton said: “This is an amazing accolade which rounds off another fantastic year for us. We have already received the Queen’s Award for sustainability and being crowned Pub Champions by our industry peers is true validation of the efforts St Austell Brewery is making to ensure that this bastion of British culture – the local pub – remains a vibrant, relevant and successful one.”

St Austell Brewery received the Pub Champion Award from Charles Ireland, General Manager – GB, Ireland and France, Diageo, for its ongoing investment in its estate of 178 pubs and hotels and its commitment to the local communities that surround them.

Brigid Simmonds, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said:

“I am delighted St Austell Brewery have been awarded the BBPA Pub Champion 2018 Award. St Austell Brewery have continued investing in their award-winning estate of pubs and hotels ensuring local communities have somewhere to meet. They have also forged strong links to local schools and colleges – including a Chefs Academy at Truro College – to inspire young talent to look at careers in the pub industry.

“The BBPA Annual Awards serve to highlight the continued achievements of our industry and rewards the commitment to our sector and St Austell are a great example of both.  As a visitor to their pubs I know how hard they work with their local communities and this award is very well deserved.”

BBPA members are responsible for 90% of the beer brewed in Britain today and represent around 20,000 of the country’s pubs. They include international companies, family brewers such as St Austell Brewery, managed locals and the nation’s largest tenanted pub estates.

The BBPA is now more than 100 years old, having been founded in 1904, with the annual awards – now in their seventh year – just one of its initiatives that help celebrate the success of one of the country’s oldest industries.

Through its lobbying work and campaigns such as Long Live the Local, supported by St Austell Brewery, the British Beer & Pub Association champions issues that matter to lovers of British beer and the British pub.

For more information about the awards and the work of the BBPA visit www.beerandpub.com.

 

Notes to Editors

  • Founded in 1851, by Walter Hicks, St Austell Brewery is one of the oldest businesses in Cornwall and is one of only 28 independent family owned brewers in the UK.
  • The company owns two breweries, four depots and 178 pubs and inns across the south west and employs over 1500 people.
  • St Austell Brewery acquired Bath Ales on July 1st, 2016. In addition to its pubs, the deal, which was completed for an undisclosed fee, included: The Bath Ales brewery, which is situated between Bath and Bristol, its portfolio of beer brands and its pub estate.
  • In 2017, growth was achieved in all areas of the business as a result of the ongoing investment in the pub estate, brewing operations and the beer brands.
  • With annual sales of £169 million, the company is among just nine from the south west to appear on the 14th annual Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table, published this in the Sunday Times.
  • St Austell Brewery is the south west’s largest wholesale distributor of beer, ciders, wines, spirits and soft drinks, serving more than 4,000 free trade accounts, from pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels and other licensed outlets.
  • Its leading brands Tribute, Proper Job and Korev continue to increase volumes in both the draught and packaged markets and are available nationally in supermarkets and are exported to over 22 countries world-wide.