Nationwide pub closures, as ordered by the Prime Minister on 20 March, has reduced the the brewer and pub operator’s income by 90%.
Using the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, St Austell has furloughed more than 75% of staff across its pub estate, St Austell Brewery and Bath Ales’ Hare Brewery, which it acquired in 2016.
Support package
St Austell chief executive Kevin Georgel said: “As a company, we applaud the support package announced by the Chancellor.
“It has helped us to secure employment and an income for all our people, as well as hundreds of thousands of others, working in the UK hospitality and brewing industry.
“To have the strongest opportunity to safeguard our business and employees for the long term, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily move a number of our team into a period of furlough.”
Georgel went on to outline how St Austell will continue to keep this under regular review until normal trading resumes and everyone can return to work safely.
Essential service
He added: “I’m relieved to say, despite the closure of our pubs and the challenges that still lay ahead, we haven’t had to make a single redundancy across the business.
“I’d like to thank our production teams who are working harder than ever, to keep our bottled beers on supermarket shelves.
“The Government has classified all food and drink suppliers an essential service and we are working around the clock to allow our customers to keep stocking our beers, throughout the duration of the pandemic.”
The pub company boss lauded the St Austell team amid the coronavirus pandemic and looked to the future.
Georgel said: “With every day that goes by, I become more impressed at the calibre and commitment of our people in these challenging times.
“I am incredibly proud to lead such a dedicated team and look forward to welcoming all our teams back when them time is right.”
