Oliver's army at Marston's

"I'm actually really pleased you're here, Adam. It means I don't have to do any morris dancing."

Not exactly what I was expecting to hear as an opening line in my first interview with the new managing director of Marston's Beer Company. But then a glance into Stephen Oliver's eyes and a sight of the fear that lay within made me realise he was serious.

We were at the 30th birthday celebration of Ringwood Brewery acomplete with hog roast, speeches and morris dancers who looked particularly keen to embarrass the new boss.

It was back in 1978 that the godfather of British microbrewing, Peter Austin, installed a small piece of brewing kit on site in the Hampshire village of Ringwood.

While other microbreweries founded around the same time fell by the wayside, Ringwood grew from strength to strength and in July 2007 Marston's added the company to its growing portfolio of local breweries.

The purchase of Ringwood was not a pub deal as such, unlike the deal that brought Jennings into the Marston's portfolio. As a result it didn't involve Marston's Pub Company's managing director at the time, Stephen Oliver. Little did he realise that just over 12 months later it would matter to him greatly.

Job swap​

In July this year Marston's chief executive Ralph Findlay announced that Alistair Darby, managing director of the brewing company was to swap jobs with Oliver, to invigorate the direction of both companies.

"It meant we could both put a fresh pair of eyes on the two businesses," says Oliver. "We were both looking for a new challenge - but there is continuity as well."

However, this is not virgin territory for Oliver. "Back in 1995 I was actually working for Marston's in its original incarnation [before it was bought by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries in 1999, which since changed its name to Marston's] as brewing and brands director," he says. "So I've come full circle."

In the past two years a fresh strategy on the brewing side has come from Marston's. It has followed up its purchase of Jennings and Ringwood with the recent buyout of the Wychwood brewery in Oxfordshire, giving it strong off-trade ale brands in the form of Hobgoblin and Brakspear.

Oliver says he intends to continue to follow this 'local strategy'.

He adds: "Our tactical approach is predicated by the desire to integrate brands but at the same time keeping the very strong local character to them. And Ringwood has always had a very strong local character to it."

Keeping CAMRA ​

quiet Interestingly, as each of the deals has been announced over the last two years, the usual bombastic response from the Campaign for Real Ale, warning against another local brewery closing, has become ever quieter. Because thus far Marston's has seen local production as key to ensuring the brands can grow and so it has not closed the breweries down.

"At Marston's we want to find really excellent brands that are stronger than their locale and have the ability to develop outside of their region," Oliver says.

He seems genuinely excited by the prospects of the new job. He reiterates a sentiment expressed by many in the industry that cask has a unique opportunity to help galvanise the pub trade: "You simply cannot serve cask ale to perfection in the off-trade. So there are great opportunities."

However, he also feels there are problems that need to be addressed. But rather than just talking about it he says there is a need for proactivity - perhaps subconsciously pointing the finger at others in the trade who highlight problems but offer no solutions.

"How can we get cask to add value to licensees? It is consistently underpriced by licensees," he says. "And the big challenge is to get increased distribution of cask into accounts that don't do it. But we cannot simply force them, we have to find solutions for pubs that will give them the confidence to serve it, and their customers the confidence to try it."

So one solution Oliver offers is for the trade to introduce smaller cask sizes than exist currently. That would protect quality and ensure there is less wastage.

"We need to try and ensure that licensees don't have to worry about ullage and wastage and can instead focus on the customer," he says.

Now let us just hope that those pesky morris dancers don't get in the way of Stephen Oliver's great plans.