Titanic Brewery director Keith Bott receives MBE

Keith Bott​ engineered the growth of Stoke-on-Trent's Titanic Brewery from a microbrewery with a seven-barrel plant to a business employing more than 150 people and brewing more than 3m pints of beer a year.

“I’m extremely proud to receive this honour, particularly as the citation refers to services to the brewing industry and the economy of Staffordshire,” he said.

“I joined the industry as an apprentice brewer and I could never have predicted that I’d buy the brewery I worked for and go on to represent the industry through my work with SIBA (Society for Independent Brewers) and other brewing organisations.”

Influential figure​

Bott has been an “influential figure” in the UK industry, serving as both chair and president of brewing industry body SIBA, during a period where the number of British brewers has grown from 300 in 2002 to about 1,700 today thanks to the introduction of the small breweries' relief scheme, which he was “instrumental” in securing.

Another of Bott’s achievements was advising the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group and helped to lead a successful campaign to scrap the beer tax escalator in 2013.

The brewer said he saw his MBE as an honour for all at Titanic and “everyone who has worked to grow the independent brewery industry”.