PROFILE: Rupert Thompson
If real ale enthusiasts are looking for the proverbial knight in shining armour, then they have found him in the form of Rupert Thompson, Chief Executive of Refresh UK, who has saved Brakspear Beer.
Born in October 1958, his father was in the Royal Artillery before taking over the family fertiliser company. Rupert, his sister and brother, were brought up in the village of Strensall near York. He is proud of his Yorkshire roots.
After school in Scarborough he went to Oundle, a school noted for its emphasis on engineering and technology. From there he went to St Andrews University where he ended up with a degree in Modern History.
In 1980 he joined Bass, Mitchells and Butlers as a management trainee, thus beginning a career in the brewing industry. As a raw recruit he was quickly thrown in at the deep end, with forty leased pubs in the Coventry area to look after and then experience in the Free Trade, particularly clubs. He moved back to run tenanted, and later, managed pubs. In 1985 he moved to Bass North in Leeds where he was Brand Manager and then to Burton-On-Trent to handle Stones Best Bitter – “Wherever you may wander, there’s no taste like Stones ”. Under his guidance, brewing was moved back to being solely Yorkshire based, at Sheffield and Tadcaster.
Two rather frustrating years followed with Tennents Pilsner, the big plus being his involvement in TV advertising with ‘shoots’ in exotic places. Success really came his way when he was put in overall charge of Carling Black Label. He initiated a 1990 project named ‘Carling 2000’ with the ambitious task of increasing Carling’s sales, then at 2.2million barrels, by 50% in 10 years. This involved new packaging and advertising, increasing the abv of cans to match draught and a major new sponsorship – the Carling Premier League. Coors has recently celebrated sales passing the 5 million barrels a year mark.
After moving to Newbury with Bass, deciding he needed to change course and completing an MBA at Warwick University, at the age of 35 he became a Director of Morland in Abingdon. There he ran the Tenanted pub estate and developed Old Speckled Hen to become one of the leading premium cask and bottled beer brands in the UK. Morlands was then swallowed up by the fast expanding ‘super Regional’ Greene King.
Some time as a consultant gave him a chance to look for new opportunities, and, with the encouragement of Richard Breare of Ushers and Alchemy Venture Capitalists, his eye fell on the ailing Ushers Brewery in Trowbridge. At this point Refresh UK was created and was involved in a BOMBO – ‘Brands Only Management Buy-Out’. The beers were brewed by Thomas Hardy at Dorchester and Burtonwood and the brewery equipment was shipped to North Korea where it has been re-built to form the largest brewery in the country!
The next move in June 2002 was to buy the Wychwood Brewery and Refresh was also appointed by Wadworths to handle the off-trade distribution of Wadworth 6X.
In October 2002 Refresh was also appointed to brew and distribute Brakspear beers after the closure of the Henley Brewery, thus ensuring the future for the famous Brakspear Beers.
In 1988 he married Amanda, who he met in a pub, The Vaults in the town of Uppingham, where she was a clothes designer. They live in Hungerford with their three children, Rosanne, Olivia and Alfie.
There is little time for hobbies, but Rupert likes tennis, gardening and reading. Holidays are normally spent in Northern France.
Not surprisingly, Rupert has a high profile, and is particularly proud to be a founder of the Cask Marque scheme and the first Chairman of the newly formed Beer Education Trust, better known as the ‘Beer Academy’. He also plays an active part in the Parliamentary Beer Group and the BBPA Image of Beer Campaign and is a member of the British Institute of Innkeepers, the Marketing Society and British Beer and Pub Association Council. He is also a member of CAMRA and acknowledges the debt owed by the brewing industry, particularly the smaller breweries, who probably would not exist without CAMRA.
Rupert is delighted with the progress of the business and the warm response to the stronger Wychwood Hobgoblin and the Lager Boy adverts. He is now dedicated to returning Brakspear beers to their former glory, and hopes that CAMRA members will support the bold initiative to bring brewing back to Oxfordshire. Success because of loyal drinkers support will give hope for other beers at risk in the future. The prophets of doom were wrong. Brakspear beer is once again being brewed in Oxfordshire. Long may it continue.