Brewery bosses cheered by profits at parent company

THE parent company of brewer Belhaven has announced record-breaking profits and pledged its commitment to retaining operations in East Lothian.

Pub retailer and brewer Green King revealed the firm made a £152 million pre-tax profit for the year to April – a rise of 8.6 per cent on the same period last year – with Belhaven products growing by 3.9 per cent.

Dunbar-based Belhaven Brewery, employing 158 workers and dating back to 1719, is one of Scotland’s oldest traditional breweries.

Euan Venters, 54, managing director of brewing and brands at Belhaven, said: “The profit was driven very much in Green King by the managed 
pubs and, within that, the Belhaven-managed pubs performed well.

“Belhaven brews all its beer in Dunbar.”

Mr Venters said Green King had invested £850,000 in the Dunbar brewery last year to increase capacity and “secure the future by making it more efficient”.

He added: “Given the economy, we are always looking at ways of being more efficient but we are very committed to brewing at Dunbar. Dunbar is very important for us – we very much like to be seen as a 
Dunbar-based business.

“We are stepping up tours of the brewery to make it interesting for people and would like it to become one of the real tourist attractions in the area, so we are looking to publicise it more.”