The big man who saved a small brewery
George Bateman, the brewer of 'good honest ales', has died at the age of 80. Roger Protz assesses his career and legacy
George Bateman, who died on Monday aged 80 after a long battle with cancer, was a big man who ran a small brewery. He ran it and he saved it.
George Bateman & Son, in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, became for beer lovers an iconic brewery in the 1980s when "Mr George", as he was universally known, fought a protracted struggle to save the company from closure. The brewery was founded in 1874 by George's grandfather and enjoyed the relatively uneventful life of a family brewery serving a small community.
Cut out for leadership
George, who was born in 1927, was clearly cut out for leadership: he was head boy at both his prep school and public school and was an officer in the Lancers during National Service in Palestine between 1946 and '48. After military service, he followed the usual path of the scion of a family brewery: pupillage or apprenticeship with other breweries before being allowed to join his own company.
He worked with great verve in Wainfleet, transforming the brewery in order to face the challenges of the post-war world. He introduced modern methods of fermentation and met the demand for keg beer in the 1970s. He admitted in later life that the company might have folded at that time, as it was unable to compete with the might of the new national brewers and such heavily-promoted keg brands as Watneys Red, Double Diamond and Worthington E.
But the arrival of Camra, the Campaign for Real Ale, and renewed interest in cask beer saved Batemans. Its success seemed short lived, however, when a deep rift opened up in the family. In 1985 his brother, John, and sister, Helen, dropped a bombshell: they wanted to sell the brewery and move to Guernsey to enjoy life in the sun.
A stab in the back
George was determined to save the company but he faced the daunting fact that John and Helen controlled 60% of the shares. George was shattered by his relatives' behaviour. "It was stab in the back," he said. "We were poles apart in philosophy. Brewing is a way of life - we had to save the brewery for the pubs, the workforce and the local community."
George, with the full support of his wife, Pat, and their children, Jaclyn and Stuart, faced the daunting task of raising sufficient money to buy out John and Helen. If they failed, the brewery was doomed. "I flogged round the country with my briefcase, trying to find a white knight," George recalled. He talked to more than 20 companies and changed lawyers three times when he felt he was getting less than full support. "My greatest asset is my insomnia," he said at the time: "I work all day and I think all night."
But the struggle took its toll. At one meeting with Midsummer Leisure, George broke down in tears and had to be led away by Pat. At the height of the fight George spoke to the annual meeting of Camra in Southampton. His passionate defence of the values of independent brewing brought more than a 1,000 members to their feet, roaring their support for minutes on end.
Driving to victory
Later, George said many times that it was the backing of the campaign that helped drive him to victory. And it was a remarkable turn of events at Camra's Great British Beer Festival in Brighton in 1986 that helped turn the tide. Bateman's premium bitter, XXXB, was named Champion Beer of Britain. It was not a fix, but the result of a series of blind tastings by panels of judges who had no idea what beers they were drinking. It was just the boost George needed. Bateman's beer was suddenly a national talking point. The free trade clamoured for XXXB and the media took up the story of the small brewery fighting for its life in rural Lincolnshire. George was finally able to convince banks and other backers that the brewery had a future.
He managed to get a realistic valuation of the business and the money was secured. He never revealed how much he had had to borrow to buy out his brother and sister - he described it as "a pools win" - but it was thought to be in the region of £10m. With the Union Flag flying proudly from the windmill that is part of the brewery site and features on its logo, George proclaimed the company's independence in March 1987.
He celebrated with a new beer, Victory Ale. With Pat, Jaclyn and Stuart joining him at the helm, he then faced the new and daunting task of building a viable business to pay off the loans. George paid a heavy price in another way: the years of struggle created an especially debilitating form of cancer that attacked his mouth and throat.
A series of operations and recuperation would have encouraged most people to retire but George battled on. He had to sell more beer and expand a tied estate that had been reduced when he had been forced to sell some of his beloved pubs as part of the price for buying out his relatives. And he worked on because of the backing he had received. "One of the greatest things to come out of this terrible struggle has been the support we have received from tenants, customers and staff," he said. "Our office walls are plastered with messages of good will." Eventually age rather than infirmity led to George standing down as managing director in favour of Stuart, but he remained as chairman of Batemans and an active one at that.
Tragedy never far away
The brewery prospered, new pubs were bought and a new museum and visitor centre attracted visitors from far and wide. But tragedy was never far away. In 2005, Pat Bateman, who had had her own struggle with cancer, died and then George's own illness returned. His death truly marks the end of an era. No one who met him will ever forget him. He was warm, compassionate and had a sparkling sense of humour. He also stood for values that were sharply at odds with the modern world of business. George took no salary from the brewery. He believed that producing beer for pubs and their communities was more important than the pursuit of profit alone.
As his brewery's slogan says, he brewed "Good Honest Ales" and those simple words will be his enduring legacy.
