SPECIAL FEATURE: FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE PROJECTS UNDERPINNING OUR ANNUAL OPERATING PLAN THIS YEAR P.16
ST EDMUNDS • DUNBAR • BURTON UPON TRENT
OUR BRILLIANT PEOPLE:
We chat to Simon Cleary, Head of Operations, and find out who our Pride of Greene King finalists are P.4
Good luck to Richard Farrow and
WE ADD SOME NEW BREWS TO OUR PORTFOLIO:
Check out the info on our two new brews launched into the retail market P.6
CELEBRATING SUCCESS IN BREWING OPERATIONS:
Read all about some big reasons to celebrate in both Bury and Dunbar P.18
BURY
13
4 14 19 6 20
WELCOME TO PINT SIZED
Hi everyone,
It’s great to be back and what a bumper start to the year we have had. We received planning permission for our brand-new brewery in Bury St Edmunds, reached some fantastic health and safety milestones, celebrated some audit success at Belhaven and saw the highest number of Pride of Greene King nominations we have ever received – more on this on pg5. I’m also excited to see the launch of Imperial IPA and Double Header – two new beers which will play a pivotal role in our strategy within the grocery channel and recruiting new drinkers.
We also held our leadership team roadshow series where we managed to get out and meet with over 350 of you. This really was an invaluable experience for us as a leadership team and it was brilliant to see the energy and engagement from those who came along. We look forward to the next round!
As a business we have had a pretty strong start to the year, making the most of the nice weather when we have had it and some of those big occasions that drive people into our pubs. However, we cannot get complacent, and we know that we are still operating in a very challenging market and consumer sentiment remains difficult. Our Own Brewed Volume also continues to underperform vs expectations, so this requires us to stay focused on delivering our strategy and plan which you can read more about on pages 16 and 17.
We know what our challenges are and whilst it’s important we face into those I remain confident that we have the right strategy and plan to deliver a strong result for the year. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the next quarter has in store for us. Thanks for your continued hard work and unwavering dedication.
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the first Pint Sized of 2025! A busy edition with the new Group Supply Chain supplement bringing you all the latest news and updates from Supply Chain.
Thanks to all those that have contributed to this edition and do let me know if you would like to contribute to the next Pint Sized.
You can give us your feedback by heading to page 22 and scanning the QR code. It would be great to hear what you think of our new format.
Enjoy the read,
Alice
Hi everyone,
GROUP SUPPLY CHAIN
It’s an exciting time for Group Supply Chain and we have lot’s going on – some of which you can read about inside. With nearly 1000 team members in our business area, the scale, and opportunities available to us are considerable and we are looking forward to sharing some of this with you as we navigate the rest of the year ahead. I’m really pleased that we have now launched Group Supply Chains own performance dartboard, this will be shared with everyone and will really underpin our areas of focus.
As Matt said, we have had a pretty strong start to the year but we know we are still in a tough market so we must remain focused on being as cost efficient and agile as possible.
I’m really looking forward to this year and seeing what we can achieve in our first full year as the new Group Supply Chain division.
Vance
OUR BRILLIANT PEOPLE
04 Meet Simon Cleary Celebrating Success in Brewing Ops
05 Premium Peers
The Pride of Greene King
OUR BRILLIANT BRANDS
06 New launches for Brilliant Beers
15 Our fresh Cask release programme NEW Bird of Prey
NEW!
GROUP SUPPLY CHAIN
08 GSC Structure Side Talk
09 International Women's Day
10 Middleton Macmillan Update
11 Tub2Pub
12 Meet Vadims Nikonovs Simpler Recycling
13 New Toyota MHE
Meet Vance Fairman-Smith
14 Greene King Snacks
Glass Recycling
SPECIAL FEATURE
16 Our strategy into action
OUR BRILLIANT BEERS
18 Incredible Audit success for Belhaven brewery Operational teams impressive safety milestones!
19 Old Speckled Hen debuts new golden cask ale Tap Club
GOOD TO KNOW
20 It rained and we poured Leading the way on inclusivity
21 Macmillan March
EVENTS
22 Roadshows
Coffee Time crossword Events calendar Pint Sized Places
OUR BRILLIANT PEOPLE
SIMON CLEARY Head of Operations
CELEBRATING SUCCESS WITH TWO OF OUR BREWERS!
Congratulations to Simon Proctor, Development Brewer and Michael Bacon, Brewing Operative, who have just passed their Level 4 Brewing Apprenticeships! Both Simon and Michael have been here for over 15 years and embarked upon their apprenticeships 18 months ago.
Juggling the learning commitments with their job roles was no mean feat so it’s fantastic to see such brilliant outcomes! Huge congratulations to you both!
We caught up with Simon Cleary, Head of Operations, to chat to him about his Greene King journey so far, leading on one of our AOP (Annual Operating Plan) projects and recently being announced as a finalist for ‘Best Leadership’ story at the Pride of Greene King Awards
Simon, tell us a little bit about yourself…
I’ve been with Greene King for about 18-months now. I’ve got a broad history in food and drinks companies (Heineken, Diageo, SHS), but my heart is in the On Trade. I love the variety, the dynamism, the people and, dare I say, the challenges. Outside of work, I live with my partner, Karen, in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham. She is a head teacher. If ever I think work is tough, I remember the daily challenges she faces. I’m really proud of what she does, it’s remarkable! I love sport, both playing and watching. Football, golf, snooker, darts, mountain biking and others. I’m a season ticket holder at West Brom, too. Oh, and I’ve got a big birthday this year. Come celebrate my 30th with me! :-)
Can you talk to us about what your role as Head of Operations entails?
Well, it’s the most diverse role I’ve ever had. I lead the contact centres in both Bury St Edmunds and Dunbar – about 40 people. The teams are a critical interface between Greene King and our customers and they do a great job of ensuring we offer our customers great service, and resolve issues when we don’t. The Commercial Operations team also report to me. This team is mainly internally focussed ensuring that our people, our systems and our processes work together to help our sales team, mainly, work most effectively. And, finally, I am the business lead on the Modular CRM project. If we implement this successfully, I genuinely believe it will be game-changing for our business. It will help ensure our customers’ experience of Greene King is world class, but also provide better tools for our teams to make a difference on a daily basis. I’ve only just taken on the Head of Operations role, and If I’m honest, I’m still learning how to do it. But, that’s okay and perfectly normal.
You are leading the CRM project as part of our annual operating plan this year, how is that going so far?
We are in what we call the Discovery Phase at the moment– so we are in the early days of the project. We are currently working to ensure we have a clear understanding of the capabilities we require in order for Greene King to be successful now and in the future. We will then seek to make sure that our new systems and processes facilitate the delivery of this. I’ve been involved in a few projects like this – it is critical that we get this bit right! Mistakes now are difficult to unpick in the future.
Congratulations on being announced as the finalist for ‘Best Leadership Story’ in the Pride of Greene King Awards, you must be chuffed?
Yeah, it was a really nice surprise. I’d like to think I made a positive difference last year, but so did lots of my colleagues. And, as we all know, it’s a team effort!
THE PRIDEOF GREENE KING AWARDS 2025
Premium Peers is going from strength to strength, and we are pleased to announce our most recent winners along with their nominations:
TARA HUTCHINSON
SENIOR NATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER
Tara has done an absolutely fantastic job of driving our performance forward in Take Home (in Morrisons in particular) by building a brilliant relationship with them over the last few years and securing listings of our beers. She presented us with the request from Morrisons to create Old Session Hen in late 2023 and helped us to turn this project around in a matter of months and make it a great success! She recently shared some brilliant news that we will be gaining more than 1000 additional distribution points from March across a range of our beers as a result of her brilliant negotiations on our Joint Business Plan (JBP) with Morrisons. Many of these are above the initial forecast so a real testament to her relationship with Morrisons and her being a true advocate for our beers and brands! Above all, she is just an absolute star and a pleasure to work with :)
ALASTAIR NEWSTEAD
EQUIPMENT SUPPLY MANAGER
Alastair has spearheaded and worked tirelessly to move our cellar services fulfilment over from Celli to TVS. This action has not only driven great savings for GK of c. £1.5m over three years it has happened with relative ease for the order of magnitude of the project (about £1.2m of spend pa)
Alastair has done a great job of pushing himself to create the presentations to
This year’s Pride of Greene King Awards are set to take place on Wednesday 7 May and gives team members the opportunity to win, learn and celebrate in a fun and relaxed way!
Continuing with the same format as last year, the team have been looking for the best stories across Greene King based around our Strategy Drivers, Behaviours and Values. The award categories remain the same with the addition of one new category, “Best Leadership Story.”
We received over 115 nominations within Brewing & Brands and Group Supply Chain – the most nominations ever put forward! A huge thank you to all those that nominated and it has been fantastic to see some of the incredible stories coming through for some of our brilliant people. Each nominee should have received their feedback directly.
ensure all of the senior teams were kept informed but has driven further savings through closer working ties with TVS from the outset. He has remained pragmatic and positive and always has a GK first attitude to his work. Further to that, with the support of procurement, he has also secured an additional £0.3m of rebate from the outgoing supplier- given they had nothing to lose this was no mean feat Time will tell how successful this transition will be but without Alastair's diligent work the concept and transition would not have been as smooth or as successful as it has been to date.
THE BREWERY-TO-BREWERY BIKE RIDE TEAM
Well done to the epic team that braved the weather, the hills, the falls and the sheer distance of 400 miles between Belhaven and Bury to raise a phenomenal amount for the Macmillan cause. As an individual fundraiser that didn’t rely on the sales of any of our products or any of our customers contributed to what I think is our largest one-off initiative to date.
Well done Sam, Leah, Pete, Jack, Paul, Stuart and Richard with all the support of Izzy and Gary.
Congratulations to you all and well done for making a difference.
The next nomination window is now live, you can nominate your premium peer by scanning the QR code
The following individuals and teams have been put forward as finalists and will be attending the awards on behalf of Brewing & Brands and Group Supply Chain:
Best Brand Ambassador
John Malone & Liam Hancy
Best Change Story
The Old Session Hen team
Best Customer Story Tesco team for AGS survey
Best Digital story
David Waterman & Aaron Van Tonder
Best Environmental story
Tub2Pub, Supply Chain North Team
Best Leadership story
Simon Cleary
Best Community story
The PTPI team
Best Macmillan story
The Brewery-toBrewery bike ride team
Outstanding Contribution
Richard Farrow and Engineering team
Best Team Player
Paul White, Quads Technician
Best Standout story
Ben Winser
Head to the B&B Kingdom page to find out more about our finalists and good luck to you all!
OUR BRILLIANT BRANDS
TWO BRAND NEW LAUNCHES FOR OUR BRILLIANT BEERS
We launched two new beers into the retail market in March as we continue to grow our brilliant beers portfolio.
Double Header is a 6.4% ABV double dry-hopped IPA. Doubling down on Level Head IPA, Double Header is a nod to the naming of Bury St Edmunds’ patron saint. In 869 King Eddie was beheaded by invading Vikings, before locals say a ghostly wolf reattached his head to his body, and a saint was born.
This perfectly executed double dry-hopped IPA is a fruity beer with citrus and tropical flavours, offering a juicy intensity and a medium bitterness for a balanced, full-bodied finish.
Double Header is the newest addition to our craft portfolio, which we launched back in 2022.
We have also just launched Imperial IPA, a 6% ABV beer brewed to a higher strength to reflect the original 19th-century style of IPA. The beer has a sweet malty taste and aroma with floral, tropical fruit and toffee notes.
The inspiration for this beer is also rooted in our heritage. The team created this new beer using a recipe discovered in our archives, which holds records of ledgers, old recipes and brewing artefacts.
Both Double Header, in 440ml can format, and Imperial IPA, in 500ml single bottle format, have now launched in Morrisons with further rollouts to follow.
BELHAVEN BEST MAKES ITS BOTTLED DEBUT!
Belhaven Best has hit the shelves in bottle format – a first for the beer brand since its launch in 1991.
Part of the Belhaven Brewery portfolio, Belhaven Best will now be available in 500ml bottles in Morrisons stores across Scotland. The amber ale is a much-loved favourite across the country and has previously only been available in can format in retail, until now.
Fiona Matheson, Marketing Manager for Belhaven Brewery, said: “We know that Belhaven Best is a firm favourite when it comes to choosing a pint in Scottish pubs and we continue to explore ways to innovate with our existing brands to meet drinkers’ needs. It’s exciting to be launching a new format for Belhaven Best after 34 years in the market and offer more options for consumers to enjoy a beer.”
The 500ml bottles of Belhaven Best are available now in Morrisons stores across Scotland and will be launching in Asda Scottish stores later this month.
BURY ST EDMUNDS • EASTWOOD • BURTON UPON TRENT • ABINGDON
CHECK OUT THE RESULTS FROM OUR ANNUAL TUB2PUB CAMPAIGN
P.11
WE CHAT TO BOTH VANCE FAIRMAN SMITH AND VADIMS NIKONOVS P.12 & 13
GROUP SUPPLY CHAIN
A SNAPSHOT IN TO HOW THE TEAM AT BURY CELEBRATED INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY P.9
Drinks Sites Abington, St Edmunds, Tilbury, Avonmouth
March was Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and we teamed up with Macmillan to create a powerful film based on real-life experiences.
Research from Greene King revealed that many men feel more comfortable opening up when they’re shoulder-to-shoulder, and the film encourages men to support each other, highlighting how sideby-side conversations can expose hard truths and help men feel connected.
Check out the video below:
Group Supply Chain Director
Vance Fairman-Smith
Head of Supply Chain South
Sarah Rogers
Food Sites Greenford
Drinks Inventory Team
Network Performance Lead Dave Cartledge
Head of Supply Chain North Dan Stretton
ACCELERATING ACTION FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
In March, we celebrated International Women’s Day in style, with some great events and activities held across the business. St Edmunds Distribution Centre held their very own event that saw them welcome students from West Suffolk College and Sybil Andrews Academy for a site tour and some pizza and cake!
As part of the event, the students were also invited to attend a talk with Sarah Rogers, Sharon Turp and Elly Johnston on their career journey’s so far and any challenges they have faced along the way.
It was a fantastic event, and the team received some brilliant feedback. Check out some of the images below…
MIDDLETON
Our new Middleton depot is opening this Summer, with our current Northwest drinks transitioning across, quickly followed by our non-food depot. Then during February 2026, food will transition across also, completing the full Northwest move to Middleton. This project will deliver longer-term strategic opportunities, provide greater ESG benefits and provide flexibility for growth. This new site will remove the requirement for external storage and allow the team to bring all, drink, food and non-food product under one roof and increase security of supply across key product lines. Look out for more info on this coming soon!
MACMILLAN UPDATE
Last year, Greene King hit £20 million for Macmillan, with £3.9 million of that coming from 2024 alone. We had some incredible efforts from Bury, Abingdon and Eastwood with a combined total of £18k.
Special mention goes to Paul Brett, Primary Transport Manager at St Edmunds DC who celebrated the 20th anniversary of the annual golf day he organises last year. Since Paul and the team started, they have raised a phenomenal £23,320. The 2024 event raised £4,500 alone so a huge thank you and congratulations to Paul and the full team for such dedication year in, year out.
We are already seeing some fantastic efforts this year so far with some exciting things in the pipeline. Good luck to the team at Abingdon taking on the Jurassic Coast Mighty Hike in July and shout out to Sarah Rogers, Head of Supply Chain South, for completing her Hyrox challenge in Glasgow and raising an impressive £900 for Macmillan!
TUB2PUB
With record-breaking public support, our Tub2Pub recycling campaign has saved over 240,000 plastic tubs from landfill.
Our annual Tub2Pub recycling initiative has now been running for five years and each year it sees more and more individuals, schools, community groups and businesses throughout the country collect the plastic tubs left over from Christmas and new year celebrations for our campaign.
This year’s Tub2Pub which ran from January to mid-February, collected over 240,000 tubs, equating to 27,990kg tonnes of plastic. Proceeds from the sale of the recycled plastic granules has raised £10,916.10 for Macmillan.
Highlights from this year’s campaign include 2,500 tubs collected by Teddy, a six-year-old boy from Hampshire. His desire to ‘save the planet’ sparked a large media interest and his story was documented and broadcast on BBC TV and online news stories, being shared as far afield as the southern hemisphere on Yahoo Australia. Teddy visited the recycling plant to see tubs being shredded and then the plastic used to make furniture. He was then given a surprise presentation of a buddy bench made from recycled tubs for his school.
Working in partnership with co-cre8 and DCW Polymers, Vance Fairman-Smith, group supply chain director, said: “What a year this has been. These results show what can be achieved when businesses and communities work together. Huge thanks to everyone who has collected these tubs and taken them to their local pub. The beauty of Tub2Pub is its simplicity. Don’t put the tub in the rubbish bin, just take it to your local and you’re doing your bit for the planet and people. Teddy’s shown us all what can be achieved!”
To date, Tub2Pub has saved over 470,000 tubs from landfill and raised £34,824.90 for Macmillan. Look out for news of Tub2Pub 2026 later this year.
VADIMS NIKONOVS
Eastwood Distribution Centre Manager
SIMPLER RECYCLING
In a bid to improve recycling rates across the UK, the Simpler Recycling initiative now requires all workplaces and non-domestic premises across England to separate key recyclable materials from general waste under the government’s Simpler Recycling legislation.
These will include glass bottles and jars, metal food and drinks cans, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, paper and cardboard. It will also include food waste to ensure as much food waste is recycled, which is used to then generate clean energy and fertiliser. What does this mean for us?
This means that our waste needs to be separated into dry-recyclables, food waste and general waste. As we already have general waste and recycling the only change for us will be the introduction of food waste segregation.
If you have any questions at all, please email SHEteam@greeneking.co.uk
We caught up with Vadims Nikonovs, Eastwood Distribution Centre Manager, to chat to him about his Greene King career journey so far, what Eastwood will be prioritising this year, and his recent internal promotion...
Vad, tell us a little about yourself…
Sure! I’m Vad, and I’ve been with Greene King for eight years now. Originally from Eastern Europe, I moved to the UK after hanging up my skates from a professional ice hockey career.
I found a new passion in logistics and joined Greene King as a Team Leader back in 2016. Since then, I’ve worked hard to progress, and most recently secured the role of Distribution Centre Manager at Eastwood.
Congratulations on your promotion, what will your role as Eastwood Distribution Centre Manager entail?
Thanks! In a nutshell, I’m responsible for overseeing the full operation of the Eastwood depot. But it goes beyond that — it’s about creating the right environment for our people to thrive, making sure we’re aligned with Greene King’s goals, keeping a sharp focus on safety, driving engagement, and delivering solid performance. I’m really proud of the team we’ve built at Eastwood and excited about what we’ll achieve together.
Sounds like an exciting time for Eastwood, what’s on the plan for this year?
It is! Since the drinks and food networks merged, we’ve taken time to reset and really understand the opportunities in front of us. This year, we’re focusing on driving service and cost improvements, with a clear plan to deliver budget, tighten labour controls, and boost our OTIF (On Time in Full) performance.
Health & Safety continues to be a top priority. We will be bringing in new lead indicators and better governance to make sure safety is embedded in how we work every day, not just something we talk about.
We’re also putting a lot of energy into building a stronger culture — one that’s rooted in engagement, recognition, and open communication. We want everyone at Eastwood to feel part of the bigger picture and know they can have a voice.
And finally, we’re backing our people. That means structured development plans, regular 121s, and clear succession planning — making sure we’re not just delivering for now, but growing the talent that will take us forward.
VANCE FAIRMAN-SMITH Group Supply Chain Director
NEW TOYOTA MHE
We have now signed a new agreement with Toyota which will see all our manufacturing and drinks distribution sites move across to brand new Toyota MHE equipment over the course of the coming months.
We will also be moving to a predominantly electric fleet in line with our ESG aspirations.
We caught up with Vance Fairman-Smith, Group Supply Chain Director, to chat about all things supply chain, his Greene King career so far, and some of the big priorities for supply chain this year…
Vance, can you tell us a little about yourself…
I have been with the business for 15 years, originally joining Punch so have seen number of changes over the years.
I am married to Vicky, who also works for Greene King and have three children, two boys Lachlan 23 a pilot, Luca 21 a truck technician and Emmie 11 who is the selfappointed boss of the family.
I love to travel, any type of holiday/break suits whether it’s the beach or walking in the countryside as long as includes a pub visit.
I am a West Ham fan and love a great day out at the horse racing. I love great food and sharing these social occasions with family and friends.
A passion I have had for a while now is everything about the environment, especially and more importantly now, biodiversity and nature protection. In my role at Greene king this has allowed me to pursue these passions whether it be recycling, tub2pub, energy reduction, packaging reduction or even an odd roof top garden.
Can you tell us a bit more about Group Supply Chain as a function?
New Group supply chain is a exciting place to be, the scale and breadth is considerable, we have nearly 1000 team members, 290 vehicles and over 7500 delivery locations, consolidating deliveries from hundreds of suppliers and engaging with thousands of pubs every day.
Our ambition is to provide a secure dedicated Supply Chain, offering industry leading service standards at the best cost possible. With an aim to drive an added value proposition whether it be process improvements, additional services or using technology. We have several exciting projects underway; the new £20m plus investment in Middleton that opens with drinks first this year then food in 2026, new vehicles coming with improved technology and trials on added value services like glass recycling and snacks/GNFR (goods not for resale) to Pub Partners and Free Trade customers.
This all must be underpinned by ensuring we have a working environment that our team members find safe and inclusive to work, where everyone’s view is valued and listened to.
What does your role as Group Supply Chain Director entail?
My role is a balance of many objectives making sure we are achieving both our strategic goals but also our day-to-day service levels, achieving cost efficiency without stifling innovation, long term engagement and minimising our impact on our environment.
What are some of the big priorities for Group Supply Chain this year?
We have several initiatives for this year and in the longer-term pipeline.
Firstly, the successful opening of Middleton depot, to raise the levels of team engagement, making sure safety is at the forefront of everyone minds, improve our asset utilisation and then look to land added value projects that everyone can support, glass recycling and snacks/GNFR. We are also looking to develop a technology solution to assist pub ordering and to understand true guest dish availability.
Hopefully the teams will see improved engagement and information sharing but also that we welcome everyone’s views and involvement in projects.
My ambition is for Greene King to be seen as having the best industry leading supply chain in hospitality recognised by our competitors and for this to translate in our dartboard performance sectors. It’s not lost on me that it’s the people that make this business though so this will only be possible with engagement from our teams.
GREENE KING SNACKS
We know that our customers face many challenges in the pub trade, working in collaboration with the Free Trade Operations team, we are supporting them by trialling the addition of bar snacks to our buying lists for our Free Trade and Pub Partners customers.
Our current loyal customers, and those looking for a new supplier, can benefit from our increased ‘one stop shop’ service by enabling them to simply add crisps and nuts to their current drinks orders.
This introduction is still in its infancy and will be rolled out on a trial basis – its all about testing the appetite for this exciting new offering! Keep an eye out for more information coming soon…
GLASS RECYCLING
Group Supply Chain have been working in collaboration with Again to trial a new glass recycling solution which the team hope to roll out across our managed estate up and down the country this year.
Again are a circular recycling company, they provide tote boxes to our pubs to be filled with glass that are then collected, returned to their ‘cleancell’ facility and sorted, cleaned and sold back to the manufacturer. By working with Again, we will be recycling glass in a way that supports both Greene King and government sustainability goals.
This process could also reduce the EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) impact on businesses and the totes can utilise space on our own delivery fleet, reducing transportation on the roads. The team will be rolling out the trial in stages and hope to extend it to our Pub Partners and Free Trade channels in the future.
OUR BRILLIANT BRANDS
OUR FRESH CASK RELEASES PROGRAMME IS IN FULL SWING
Our 2025 fresh cask releases programme is in full swing with another exciting calendar of limited-edition cask ales.
The Fresh Cask Releases calendar includes 15 limited-edition beers and is filled with a combination of returning favourites, brewery collaborations, beers inspired by legendary stories of people and places associated with beer, and exciting new brews. Making a return this year has been Spring Break, the 4.4% ABV golden ale. Created in collaboration with two apprentices studying on the University of Nottingham brewing programme in 2022, this beer is a firm favourite and has doubled its volume since it first launched. And, with St George's Day on the 23rd April, pubs had the option to choose a George & The Flagon pump clip instead, so the same great beer but with two pump clip options to choose from.
Available in April and May, Hopping Special is another returning favourite. Hopping Special is a delicious, fruity 4.2% ABV amber ale brewed from five different malts for rich body and biscuity sweetness.
Check out the videos below for more info and a bit of a laugh!
HEAR FROM ALAN FULCHER ON OUR FIRST EVER INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION…
Bird of Prey is our first ever international collaboration, and was a fantastic opportunity to really stretch what we can produce for the cask seasonal calendar. Uiltje Brewing Company is based in Haarlem, Netherlands. It was founded in 2012 as a contract brewery but transitioned into its own brewing in 2016. They are renowned in the Netherlands for their bold, experimental and inventive beers, and have a prodigious output of sometimes 10-20 new beers a year!
We contacted them in 2024 and decided to convert one of their most popular beers, Bird of Prey, to a cask edition. Bird of Prey is a fruity hoppy IPA, full of citrus and tropical, and they term it a superhero IPA! After a visit to Haarlem and the Uiltje Brewery, and a lot of discussion with their Head Brewer, I took their recipe back and modified it for cask and to fit our process, while maintaining the balance of hop aromas and flavours. We dropped it to 5.2% from 5.8% to make it more palatable to the average consumer and have been ecstatic with the result!
Uiltje are also well known for their fun, viral marketing (if you have time, look up some of their adverts on YouTube as they are amazing!) so to advertise the collaboration, we decided to follow suit and inject a bit of fun into our video. I hope you enjoy!
SPECIAL FEATURE OUR STRATEGY INTO ACTION
Our strategy provides us with the overarching direction and vision for Brewing & Brands; the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) translates this vision into specific operational initiatives and goals for the upcoming year.
As talked to during our B&B roadshows back in January and February, this year we have seven projects on our annual operating plan (AOP) that we will be providing updates on throughout the year. These are…
MODULAR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) SYSTEM
This is an opportunity to improve our systems, change processes, upskill teams and to make information more readily available to those that need it.
The impact of this project is wide ranging affecting most functions and it will help increase B&B’s profitability by a significant amount, through more profitable deals and more effective use of our assets.
PROJECT LEAD – Simon Cleary, Head of Operations
FREE TRADE REVENUE GROWTH MANAGEMENT
This is about meeting customer’s needs effectively and focusing on the four p’s of marketing – product, price, place and promotion and getting this right.
In a challenging on trade environment, we must build loyalty with our current customers which will lead to profit growth and to win more customers to ensure our logistics are working as efficiently as possible.
PROJECT LEAD – Kathryn Chabowska, Buying Lead
ON TRADE WHITE SPACE
This covers a broad spectrum but essentially is anything that we’re not currently doing, or we are doing but could be doing better that’s going to create additional profit for us.
One of the areas we are looking at is ‘gap filling’, we’re a composite route to market meaning we sell beer, cider, wine, spirits and soft drinks but many of our customers use other suppliers to buy their full range - so there is an opportunity to encourage customers to buy more from us. We’re also looking at launching crisps and snacks – we know we already sell them in our managed estate but if we focus on those customers that don’t take any wine, spirits and soft drinks from us and we convert around 20% of these customers it’s worth significant additional profit.
PROJECT LEAD – Kathryn Chabowska, Buying Lead
PREMIUM BEERS
We are looking to deliver the volume and financial targets we have in the 2025 budget.
We’ve launched new products, grown distribution in the on and off trade. Last year, we delivered 21 % volume growth, 9% brewery volume and 27% brewery profit because of how profitable these highly priced craft beers are. Our target this year is very much the same – we are looking to deliver 23% volume growth.
PROJECT LEAD – Alex Radcliffe, Marketing Lead
ESTRELLA GALICIA GROWTH PLAN
With Estrella Galicia being a strategic partner of ours we are now into year three of a five-year plan that has seen significant growth of Estrella into the UK marketplace –spanning across the On and Off Trade.
We have a 52% growth ambition vs last year. Working with Estrella Galicia gives us a well-respected, authentic and credible brand to sell alongside our own portfolio of beers. And importantly it sits in a subcategory where we don’t have our own brand to play with.
You can support the project by learning a little bit more about the brand, talking about it with customers, friends and family and of course by driving trial.
PROJECT LEAD – Kelly Hall, Partnerships Lead
ZERO ALCOHOL
We will be looking to upgrade and expand our portfolio of low alcohol- and alcohol-free beers. They will be searching for suitable third-party production options before we create trial brews, build commercial cases, develop branding and bring new beers to market.
We will need cross functional support from B&B and retail colleagues to achieve this. You can help by bringing any ideas or analysis and championing of these new beers with our customers.
PROJECT LEAD – David Spencer, Marketing Lead
FREE TRADE OPTIMISATION
This comes down to two different areas – cost to serve and how we deliver to our free trade customers as efficiently as possible.
The second part of the optimisation is all about how we service our customers better. To successfully deliver this project both the logistics team and sales teams supports and will be working closely together to ensure we deliver the goals on time and with minimal disruption to our customers.
PROJECT LEAD – Scott Russell, Head of Sales
OUR BRILLIANT BEERS
INCREDIBLE AUDIT SUCCESS FOR BELHAVEN BREWERY!
We’re excited to share that the Belhaven team celebrated exceptional results in their BRC audit in February – achieving an AA grade for the first ever time.
The BRC Standard is in place to ensure food and beverage businesses comply with all legal and good practice standards to make products safely and to the highest standard. An AA grade is the highest possible grade available.
Ahead of the audit in February, the team worked tirelessly over a ten-week period to prepare and review processes at the brewery.
Mark Millett, Director of Brewing Operations said: “The BRC result is a fantastic achievement and reflects a huge amount of work across the Belhaven Team supported by Sam Mitchell and the Quality team based in Bury.
Whilst we have always been proud of the standards we operate at Belhaven, getting ready for an audit like BRC required a lot of additional work to be done in a short space of time and the way the team pulled together and got this completed was impressive. We know we’ve still got work to do to maintain the AA standard, but this accreditation should be celebrated and it’s important to recognise a great team effort and to thank everyone involved.”
Keith Garson, Brewing & Kegging Manager at Belhaven Brewery said: “This is a brilliant achievement for Belhaven Brewery, gaining BRC accreditation was originally a 10-month project, and we achieved it in three months. An incredible amount of thought, planning and hard work went into it and we are all very proud of what we achieved in such a short space of time – we are working on our plans to celebrate!”
OUR OPERATIONAL TEAMS HIT SOME
We know that safety is our number one priority, and we are thrilled to share that several of our operational teams have hit some fantastic safety milestones!
The Bury brewery team have recently reached 365 days without a lost time incident (LTI). Jack Palmer Head Brewer said: “Reaching 365 days LTI free is a brilliant achievement for the brewing team. We’re on a journey across the business to enhancing our safety culture and reaching 365 days without An LTI is testament to the great work the teams have put in over the last year.
We will continue to build on this and have now set a target of reaching 550 days without an LTI towards the back end of this year.”
Hen Hall have been on a journey with their approach to health and safety and are pleased to report they have reached over 635 days without an LTI and have given themselves a target of going the full year without any incidents. The Draught Beer team have hit over 280 days without an LTI and Belhaven Brewery have reached over 1260 days without an LTI – a phenomenal achievement!
Our safety culture is underpinned by TeamSafe which is at the very heart of safe operations across Brewing & Brands. It’s
designed to ensure that we not only value our own safety but also take responsibility for the safety of our team members and the environments in which we work.
Iain Murison, Safety, Health and Environment
Lead said: “TeamSafe enables us to be more consistent in our approach to health and safety. It provides practical tools and techniques to help understand and apply the safe behaviours that ensure we can maintain a ham free workplace.
The success of TeamSafe is built on the efforts and endeavours of everyone in our business and congratulations to our teams for reaching some fantastic milestones.”
OLD SPECKLED HEN DEBUTS NEW GOLDEN CASK ALE! TAP CLUB
Old Speckled Hen has launched its Old Session Hen as a cask ale following its successful launch in retail last year.
Old Session Hen is a 3.4% light and refreshing ale crafted with an aromatic hop blend for a hint of tropical fruit on the nose and a perfectly balanced bitterness, all rounded off with a crisp, clean finish.
Introduced to the retail market last year, in bottle and can format, Old Session Hen ended 2024 as the top 10 best new launch in terms of sales in the Ale category. With such a strong response from consumers, Greene King believes Old Session Hen is the ideal liquid to launch in cask and continue innovating in the category.
The "sessionable ale" style has been growing in popularity among consumers in both the on- and off-trade as drinkers seek an ale that is a lighter colour and can offer a lower ABV, particularly around the 3.4% ABV.
David Spencer, Head of Marketing for the Old Speckled Hen family, said:
“We wanted to continue building on the success of Old Session Hen and we thought there was an ideal opportunity to launch a cask version to give consumers the chance to enjoy this fantastic beer on the bar, and help outlets tap into the growing golden cask ale market.
“Our brewers have carefully crafted the recipe to create a light, fresh and fruity session beer at just 3.4.%, perfect for those who want a sessionable pint they can enjoy without compromising on flavour and refreshment.
“Our ultimate goal is to bring more people to the world of cask ale; it is such a wonderful tradition in British pubs and brewing and we think Old Session Hen perfectly complements our existing range of fantastic cask ales and offers something new and exciting from the ‘Hen’ family.”
Since last May, beer enthusiasts have gathered once a month for Tap Club in the Brewery Tap, to explore the world of beers and the team want you to join them!
Whether you are a seasoned connoisseur or a curious newcomer, Tap Club is the perfect place to try Greene Kings brilliant beers, expand your palate and try new and unique beer styles with the team’s monthly guest beer.
Why come along?
Variety of beers: Try new beers and new beer styles each month.
Social and fun: Meet fellow beer lovers, share your thoughts, and enjoy a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Expert Insights: Learn more about the brewing process, flavours, styles and popularity from knowledgeable team members.
Don’t miss out on our next tasting which happens on the last Wednesday each month, with two sessions: 12:30 – 13:00 or 13:30 – 14:00 so feel free to come along to the session that suits you best.
Tap Club dates for your diary: Wednesday 28th May
The team also have daily tasting sessions at 9:15 Monday to Friday and twice weekly tasting sessions at 11:00 every Tuesday and Thursday. Everyone is welcome, so please feel free to come along as they are always looking for new tasters!
GOOD TO KNOW...
It rained, we poured – and fan favourite Larry Lamb forecasted every drop! We ran our ‘When it rains, we pour’ campaign for the second consecutive year with the aim of driving footfall and promoting our pub gardens this Spring, rain or shine.
Ahead of the campaign, rain detectors were installed in some of our pubs across the UK in London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Oxford. Despite sunny spells across the country, the first April showers arrived in Bristol which unlocked up to 100,000 free pints for the entire nation!
LEADING THE WAY ON INCLUSIVITY IT RAINED AND WE POURED!
We also had our very own premium beers jeep and land rover out to support the campaign. Based at both The Anchor, Bankside and The Malthouse, Birmingham, the vehicles were supported by a team of brand ambassadors handing out samples of our legendary beers Level Head and Hazy Day.
Zoe Bowley, Managing Director for Greene King pubs said: “We were really happy to bring back our When it Rains campaign for the second year running, as well as collaborate with Larry Lamb to deliver The Sipping Forecast.
We wanted to celebrate our pub gardens as warm, welcoming and inclusive spaces where communities can gather with a good time almost guaranteed, whatever the weather.”
Bringing together over 50 leaders in the hospitality, travel, leisure and retail space, Greene King has added its voice to a new pledge with WiHTL & Diversity in Retail showing our commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion in our workplaces.
Prior to signing the pledge, Nick Mackenzie spoke about the importance of inclusion, and how he encourages others, both in the business and in the wider hospitality industry, to stand up and advocate for diversity.
We want everyone at Greene King to feel welcome and that they belong, whatever their background and wherever they may come from. Our journey to everyday inclusion is more than just a goal, it’s part of who we are as a business and runs through our DNA.
For more information on this head to https://www.wihtl.com/ ceo-commitment-charter-2025
PROUD TO HAVE RAISED OVER
£409,300
We have now wrapped up Macmillan March and we saw some fantastic fundraising efforts with team members giving it their all to raise vital funds for the Macmillan Support Line.
You can see here just how important your fundraising is to our Macmillan professionals and get an idea of exactly where your donations go.
£10,981
£6,000
£2,045
£750
and a
£26
in 2023.
During March, Peter Hurry, Bottling Operative at Hen Hall, created some bird houses made from scrap wood gathered with the idea to support the local wildlife and raise money for Macmillan at the same time by asking for donations. Macmillan is very close to Peter’s heart after he sadly lost his father at the age of 51 to lung cancer. With the knowledge that birds in the UK are on a decline he wanted to make some bird boxes in the hope that this will help support the growth of birds in the UK. Peter also hates to see anything go to waste and has completed numerous upcycling projects over the years. Peter has raised over £200 with this total set to increase!
Ben Winser organised a charity football tournament and raffle in Bury St Edmunds raising a fantastic £1,500 for Macmillan and Susan Chisholm and the Quality team held a quiz night where they raised £225. Fantastic efforts well done to you all.
Shout out to Matt Steward, Head of People for completing the London Marathon for the second consecutive year! It's not too late to donateif you would like to donate please scan the QR code below
Our B&B fundraising ambition for this year is £125,000 so please do keep sharing ideas with your Macmillan representative and keep supporting, and donating where you can. Fiona Martin and Alice Farnsworth are coordinating our B&B Macmillan efforts for this year so any questions or queries can be directed to them. Please note – if you would like your fundraising efforts to be linked to the B&B Macmillan fundraising total you need to create your JustGiving page via this link –https://www.justgiving/com/campaign/brewingbrands2025
22 B&B LEADERSHIP TEAM ROADSHOWS
Earlier this year, our B&B leadership team embarked on a roadshow travelling to Bury St Edmunds, Burton On Trent and Dunbar.
Across the six different sessions, we saw over 350 team members face to face to talk to you about what we achieved last year, what’s on the plan for this year and most importantly to give you a chance to have your say.
We received fantastic feedback and are pleased to confirm the dates and locations for the next round of roadshows:
Wednesday 23rd July — Burton
Friday 25th July — London
Monday 28th July — Bury St Edmunds
Tuesday 29th July — Bury St Edmunds
Friday 1st August — Belhaven Brewery Look out for the invites coming very soon…
COFFEE TIME CROSSWORD
6th May
Pub Partner Night of Excellence
7th May
Pride of Greene King Awards
15th – 18th May
Pub in the Park Marlow
22nd May
Chelmsford Summer Sessions
23rd – 25th May
SMR Concerts Stevenage
28th – 29th May
Suffolk Show
30th May – 1st June
Pub in the Park London
3rd June
British Beer and Pub Association Conference (BBPA)
17th June
British Institute of Innkeeping Summer Ball (Bii)
19th June
Macmillan Gala
26th June
MCA Pub Conference
WORKDAY
an easy to use mobile app is replacing GKi
The new home for booking time off, viewing payslips and more; you’ll be able to use Workday on any device, at any time from Monday 12 May.
GKi is now closed. So it’s time to get Workday ready. Look out for more information coming soon…
