Martyn Gray joins Caledonian Brewery
Edinburgh-based Caledonian Brewing Company has appointed ex-Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises executive Martyn Gray to the newly created position of commercial director.
Together with Caledonian managing director Stephen Crawley Gray will charged with developing the brewer's brands. Both men form the executive members of the Caledonian Leadership Team with two external appointments to be announced.
Crawley said: "Martyn brings wide-ranging industry experience to the new role. His experience of the pub business will be invaluable as we develop our existing and new customers in the coming months and years. We plan to simplify the company's operations into three areas; Brewing, Commercial and the field to ensure the brands get the best support possible.
"These are exciting times for the company and I am looking forward to working with Martyn."
Gray had been with Scottish & Newcastle for 18 years and has held positions in operations, marketing and commercial departments.
He said he had watched "with interest as a retailer and a consumer the progress Caledonian has made. Deuchars IPA is a wonderful expression of Edinburgh and a super flagship brand for the company.
"I have been working with Stephen and the team on the creation of the business plan and have experienced firsthand, the passion the guys have for their beers and the brewery. There is lots of potential for the company and I feel we are in a very good place to make further progress in the UK and abroad."
In April S&N bought out the 70 per cent of Caledonian it did not own, ahead of its own takeover by Heineken.
S&N had acquired the Caledonian Brewery site in Edinburgh outright in 2004, as well as a 30 per cent share in the management & brand owning business, the Caledonian Brewing Company (CBC).
It agreed a deal for the remaining 70 per cent stake in CBC, brewer of Deuchars IPA, with Caledonian directors Sandy Orr, Donald MacDonald and Denis Critchley-Salmonson.
The deal saw the Caledonian brands pass into the hands of Dutch brewer Heineken, which took over S&N's UK operations as part of the £7.8bn carve-up of S&N by Heineken and Carlsberg earlier this year.
