Jonathon Swaine returns to pub sector

Swaine has spent the last three years as managing director, retail at the Rank Group, but has spent the majority of his career in the pub industry.

Initially at Bass (1997 to 2005) where he rose to national account manager (south) before joining Fuller, Smith and Turner plc for 14 years (2005 to 2019).

At Fuller’s he had various roles, latterly as managing director, Fuller’s Inns from 2012 to 2019, which was the largest division of Fuller’s with c400 pubs, 800 bedrooms with £280m of revenue, developing and growing the business significantly.

Jonathan Neame, CEO of Shepherd Neame said: “We are delighted that Jonathon is joining Shepherd Neame. He is an operator of considerable experience and is highly respected within the industry. Jonathon and the team will help us develop Shepherd Neame on the next stage of our journey as we emerge from the pandemic in good shape and ambitious to resume our growth trajectory.”

Swaine said: “Shepherd Neame is a company that I have known and admired for a long time. They have unique heritage, strong culture and values. In addition, the pub estate is very high quality, with further development opportunities, and will benefit from the ongoing infrastructure investment in its Kent heartland. I look forward to working with the team and board.”