Britain’s oldest brewer Shepherd Neame has been named Brewery of the Year 2021 by The Good Pub Guide.
Now in its 39th year, The Good Pub Guide is Britain’s best-loved guide to pubs around the country, with more than 5,000 listings offering comprehensive information and customer reviews. It also announces a number of special awards, including Brewery of the Year.
Explaining its decision to honour Shepherd Neame, the guide offers particular praise for the principled way in which the company responded to the pandemic, writing: “In order to help protect employees, licensees and the company during the Coronavirus lockdown in 2020, the directors took a temporary 20% pay cut, suspended rent receipts, cancelled the shareholder dividend and ceased all non-contractual capital expenditure in the brewery and throughout the pub estate.”
It was also impressed by the independent family firm’s sustainability practices, and its efforts to attract ‘the beer-curious drinker’ with its Cask Club initiative and contemporary Whitstable Bay and Bear Island ranges.
The award is the latest in a series of accolades for Shepherd Neame, which was named Tenanted Pub Company of the Year at the Publican Awards and honoured with nine medals in the International Beer Competition.
Chief Executive Jonathan Neame said: “This has been an immensely challenging year, so I am incredibly proud that the creativity, the spirit and the resilience shown by our team members during the past months has been recognised with this award. This achievement, along with the many messages of goodwill that we have received, and the overwhelming support that shown towards our licensees and our pubs in recent months, make it a year to be proud of.”
The Good Pub Guide is available now, priced at £16.99. To order your copy visit: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119441/good-pub-guide-2021/
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Press release from Shepherd Neame
For further information please contact Public Relations Manager Kathryn Tye on 01795 542259 or email ktye@shepherdneame.co.uk or visit www.shepherdneame.co.uk