St Austell: ‘Heavy degree of fatigue and disillusionment with politics’

St Austell Brewery achieved record turnover of £229.5m last year, up from £209.2m the year before.

Despite challenging trading conditions for the hospitality industry, the company increased its underlying operating profit by 15% to £13.2m last year.

Underlying earnings in 2023 improved from £18.1m to £20.7m.

The company has two breweries and owns more than 160 pubs and inns, with 44 managed and the rest tenanted and leased.

Meanwhile St Austell chief executive Kevin Georgel accused the two main political parties of “on the-hoof” policymaking and has called on them to provide a clear vision for the country’s future.

Speaking to The Times, he said he felt there was “a heavy degree of fatigue and disillusionment with politics” in the run-up to the general election and he urged politicians to up the ante.

He said he had been struck by “the lack of a really clear vision from either of the two main parties to where they see the country going in the future”, although he praised some of the “good thinking” in Labour’s new policy document.

“What we’re getting is piecemeal, on-the-hoof policymaking that isn’t contextualising a clear vision for the country,” he said. “It just feels to me like they’re scoring points against each other and not thinking about the long-term opportunity the country needs to follow.”

At the same time, he urged politicians to “think things through and proceed with caution” as it would be “very easy to make policy that has unintended consequences”.

He cited the example of zero hours work contracts, which not only risked damaging the employer but also could deprive the employee of flexibility. “Things are never as simple as politicians like to think. For a seasonal business like ours, it would be very easy to make the wrong decision.”

A particular issue for St Austell Brewery is attracting the right people to work for the company and then retaining them. “The labour market no longer affords us the opportunity to up numbers in the spring and summer then let those people go. It means we are carrying higher labour costs through the winter, but actually it’s helping us because motivation and engagement is improving, skills and training are happening and that plays in the pubs.”

Discussing the St Austell beer business, Georgel has overseen a 500% jump in profitability of its beer brands. “Cask ale has had a challenging time, but we’re winning significant market share in all the markets in which we operate,” he said. “We’re bucking the national trend.”