David Bruce | |
|---|---|
 Bruce in 2022 | |
| Born | Alexander David Michael Bruce |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Firkin Pub Chain, Bruce's Brewery (founded in 1979) and The Bruce Trust. |
Alexander David Michael Bruce is a British entrepreneur who has been involved in production and retailing within the international brewing and leisure industry since 1966.
Bruce began his career in 1966, brewing with both Courage Brewery and Theakston Brewery (in North Yorkshire) for six years. This was immediately followed by six years licensed retail work with Charram Ltd and The Star Group of Companies.[ citation needed ]
Bruce went on to found the Firkin Pub chain and Bruce's Brewery, which started as a single pub in Elephant and Castle, London, in 1979. [1] Peter Austin oversaw his choice of kit and the design for its small basement brewery. [2] He borrowed £10,000, secured against his house, and opened the Goose and Firkin at 47 Borough Road (A3202) next to the junction of Southwark Bridge Road and a railway bridge leading to Blackfriars station over the river to the north, and close to the Ministry of Sound and the Student Centre of the Polytechnic of the South Bank (now London South Bank University). The pub is now the Duke of York. By 1986 he had six Firkin pubs and ten by 1988, turning over £3m; at the time Britain had 75,000 pubs. The pubs sold their own beer, Dogbolter. Each pub cost around £250,000. The Firkin motto was Usque ad Mortem Bibendum ("drink until you die"). [3]
In February 1988, Bruce put his eleven Firkin pubs up for sale, selling them for £6.6m[ failed verification ] in May 1988 to European Leisure. [4] The chain would grow to 170 sites under a succession of owners until it was bought in 1999 by Punch Taverns, who retired the brand the following year. [5]
Following the sale of the Firkin pubs and Bruce's Brewery, Bruce set up The Bruce Trust [6]
Bruce was Non-Executive Director[ failed verification ] of The Capital Pub Company PLC, which he co-founded with Clive Watson. [7] The Capital Pub Company PLC raised over £15million under the EIS and was admitted to AIM in June 2007. It was acquired by Greene King for £93m in July 2011.
Bruce was Executive Director of Grosvenor Inns PLC, where he was responsible for the roll-out of the Slug and Lettuce brand, where he worked with Tim Thwaites. [8]
In October 2011, again with Clive Watson, Bruce co-founded The City Pub Co East and The City Pub Co West, raising £28m in EIS funds.[ citation needed ]
Bruce is chairman of Cobbs Farm Co., a Hungerford-based multi-site farm shop business established in 2006 as The Country Food and Dining Company. [6]
Bruce became chairman of West Berkshire Brewery plc on 28 March 2013,[ citation needed ] promoting the business to potential investors with the prospect of selling it for up to £150 million. [9] The business went into administration in December 2021. [10] According to the administrators, the collapse of the business reflected its unprofitability since 2016.[ citation needed ] Unsecured creditors included HMRC and Hawkridge Distillers.[ citation needed ]
In August 2021, several former staff of the West Berkshire Brewery plc made allegations against the West Berkshire Brewery plc of sexism and bullying. [11] [12] Investigations into the affairs of the company remain ongoing as of July 2023.[ citation needed ]
It was announced on 15 August 2021 that Bruce had been appointed non-executive chairman of Hawkridge Distillers Ltd, a gin distilling and marketing business. [13] [14]
Bruce is a director of another brewing related enterprise which also went into administration, The Renegade Pub Co.1 Limited, with rental arrears of £18,000.[ citation needed ] This business was granted a Covid Bounce Back Loan of £50,000. Following the demise of this business, its remnants were sold to one of Bruce's business associates in 2022. Creditors include HM Revenue & Customs Debt Management, Islington Council and Metrobank.[ citation needed ]
Bruce is the chair of the trustees of the Bruce Trust, a charity registered in 1988 which designed a small fleet of accessible canal boats based at Great Bedwyn on the Kennet and Avon Canal. [15] In 2016, the boats were donated to the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, which continues to administer and operate them. [16] [17]
Another charity registered in 2013, the Bruce Charitable Foundation, which designed, developed and operated a six-berth motorhome, complete with hospital bed, to provide holidays for wheelchair users. The vehicle was sold in 2016 to The Southern Spinal Injuries Trust and therefore the charity was dissolved by Bruce in 2019. [18]
Bruce was awarded an OBE in June 2021 for services to charity. [19]
Adnams is a regional brewery founded in 1872 in Southwold, Suffolk, England, by George and Ernest Adnams. It produces cask ale and bottled beers. Annual production is around 85,000 barrels.
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of 87 miles (140 km), made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section. From Bristol to Bath the waterway follows the natural course of the River Avon before the canal links it to the River Kennet at Newbury, and from there to Reading on the River Thames. In all, the waterway incorporates 105 locks.
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Carlsberg Group to create the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company (CMBC), in which Marston's plc holds a 40% share.
Diageo plc is a British multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits. Distilleries owned by Diageo produce 40% of all Scotch whisky with over 24 brands, such as Johnnie Walker, J&B and Vat 69.
Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold.
Bass Brewery was founded in 1777 by William Bass in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The main brand was Bass Pale Ale, once the highest-selling beer in the UK. By 1877, Bass had become the largest brewery in the world, with an annual output of one million barrels. Its pale ale was exported throughout the British Empire, and the company's iconic red triangle became the UK's first registered trade mark.
Theale is a village and civil parish in the West Berkshire unitary area of the county of Berkshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal, to the north by a golf course, to the east by the M4 motorway and to the west by the A340 road.
Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick, west London, England, is the former brewing division of Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC. It was a family-run business from its foundation in 1845 until 2019, when it was sold to the Japanese international beverage giant Asahi.
The Firkin Brewery was a chain of pubs in the United Kingdom. The original UK chain is now defunct, but a number of pubs operate under the Firkin name in other countries. The chain took its name from the firkin, an old English unit of volume.
Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England.
Morland was an English brewery founded in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and was brewing beer industrially by 1711. It was the second oldest brewer in England up until it was bought by Greene King in 2000. Morland's beers include Hen's Tooth, Old Speckled Hen, Tanner's Jack and Morland's Original.
Young's is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs.
De Vere is a hotels and leisure business, which until the late 1990s was a brewing company known as Greenall's. It used to be listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
H & G Simonds Ltd was a brewing company founded in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1785 by William Blackall Simonds. The company amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960 and dropped the Simonds name after ten years. Eventually the firm became part of Scottish & Newcastle who sold the brands to Wells & Young's Brewery in 2007 and closed the Reading brewery three years later.
The South Australian Brewing Company, Limited was a brewery located in Thebarton, an inner-west suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Lion, which in turn is owned by Kirin, a Japan-based beverage company. It manufactures West End Draught beer.
BrewDog is a multinational brewery and pub chain based in Ellon, Scotland. With production of over 800,000 hectolitres, BrewDog claims to be the "#1 Craft Brewer in Europe". It was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, who together own 46% of the company.
The Aldermaston Brewery was a brewery located near Aldermaston in Berkshire, UK.
Dominic Walsh