Keen to do a proper job

It's past midnight on a Wednesday in mid-July and the streets circling the Central, St Austell Brewery's snazzy bar in the middle of Newquay, are heaving with people. Roving groups of young men ogle groups of young women who, being more than a match for their male counterparts, ogle back. The Central is packed too, the atmosphere buzzing. But a man of my age gets tired simply from the effort of standing up at this hour, and consequently my hotel room beckons.

The fact that a brewer with more than a century and a half of tradition behind it owns such a thoroughly modern venue as the Central comes as a bit of a shock.

But like many family-owned regional brewers St Austell is full of surprises. It has a brewing arm that appears to have turned a corner, with a number of excellent beers including Proper Job, Tribute and Clouded Yellow, all of which render an earlier epithet, "St Awful", somewhat redundant. And it also owns a 164-strong pub portfolio that ranges from quaint "roses-round-the-door" sites to tourist-friendly inns overlooking working quaysides and down-to-earth community locals.

Back to the crowds. Many thronging Newquay are locals, but a sizeable chunk are visitors, drawn to the area's stunning countryside and surfing opportunities. The region depends on tourism and its economy swings from "robust" to "challenging"': hectic in the summer, quiet as a church mouse in the winter. This seesaw effect hits St Austell as much as other local businesses in the region, 97 per cent of which employ fewer than 20 people.

"There is obviously a considerable seasonal factor at work here in Cornwall," says the brewery's managing director - and the only family member on the board - James Staughton. "The county is in vogue right now and has been for the last five years, what with the surfing and the nearby Eden Project. What happens if it goes out of vogue? That's one of the challenges we face."

A challenge indeed. Some of St Austell's pubs and bars rake in anything up to £100,000 a week during the high season, but this can slump to £4,000 or £5,000 during the winter lull.

Being flexible, therefore, is essential, notes James. "We have to adjust the way we do business, such as those of our pubs that have accommodation offering three nights for the price of two, although inevitably there's a degree of laying off of barstaff.

"But our brewing is really busy in the first six months of a year, notably because of the growing popularity of Tribute beyond Cornwall."

Certainly St Austell's brewing reputation is growing and owes much to the appointment of head brewer Roger Ryman back in 1999. The first beer Roger created was Daylight Robbery, a seasonal cask ale brewed to tie in with the solar eclipse in the same year. The eclipse might have been a damp squib but the beer proved successful, was given a new name, Tribute, and has become the mainstay of the brewery.

Improvements in the quality of the beer have taken a while to be appreciated, although a widening of distribution and growing reputation are slowly changing the perception of St Austell's output. "The beer comes first," says Roger, true to the spirit of any head brewer. Noting that what a marketing executive might want from a beer differs from his own vision, he adds: "There's no point in marketing if the product, the beer, is not up to scratch."

"The 'St Awful' tag was a fair one a few years ago," acknowledges James. "For a while we were the only choice in the area and there was not a great focus on quality. We were too slow to react to changes and developments in brewing technology and so we set about improving things.

"There was a lot of goodwill for the company here in Cornwall before the changes were made, but we couldn't shout about the beer back then because the quality wasn't good enough," he says. The arrival of Roger Ryman started a chain reaction that now sees the company fully back in favour with customers in the region.

Tribute rise

The creation and subsequent push of Tribute was a focal point. "We held up our hands and admitted the errors of the past. We got Cask Marque into our pubs, which despite being a trade-oriented thing is still a real plus for the estate.

"Now our pubs don't ask for a guest ale, as they don't feel the need to." James adds that the group's free trade reps are selling more of its beer nationwide, and Tribute will soon be going into 40 of Mitchells & Butlers' Nicholson pubs in London.

With its future in mind, St Austell has ploughed a lot of money and effort into restoring the company's fortunes. Investment continues in the estate, with £8.5m being spent last year on acquisitions and capital projects, while £600,000 has gone into the brewery itself, including a new visitor centre. Anticipating the looming smoking ban, St Austell is spending upwards of £300,000 on outside areas for its pubs.

Unfortunately, some factors remain beyond its control. One of the area's biggest employers is French firm Imerys, which owns local mining operations formerly run by English China Clays. It recently announced it was to axe more than 800 jobs from a total workforce of 2,000.

"This will undoubtedly affect community pubs around here," says James. "We will hope to keep pub closures to a minimum, but I would be amazed if there weren't any."

And while James cherishes the traditional aspects of St Austell, he recognises that the current market demands hard decisions sometimes need to be made. "Overall we've got to be tougher, looking at things like selling pubs or going for alternative use if we have to. Having 150 years of history behind you doesn't mean you have a right to survive," he says.

Like any regional brewer, the question of independence in the face of acquisitive rivals remains. James, like many a family brewer before him, responds vigorously to rebutt suggestions the company might sell up. "Our geographical position helps us succeed and acts as a form of defence. I am absolutely committed to St Austell remaining independent," he says.

Whenever a regional brewer says this it is often a cue for an announcement that the boys from Bury St Edmunds are launching a bid, but let's put that thought on hold for now.