Camerons reveals growth plans

It comes as the company unveils a new corporate identity, to be rolled out to its 67-strong pub estate during the rest of the year, marketing manager Yousef Doubooni told M&C Report.​

“We’re on the acquisitions trail again. We are looking to get new outlets to support this new brand identity,” he said. “We want to grow from 67 to 200 [pubs] within the next three years.”

The company is looking to acquire cask beer-focused pubs in northern England. Doubooni said the focus would be a new managed concept known as “craft outlets”, which would be traditional “spit and sawdust” pubs with a focus on “good quality beers and food”. Beer from local cask and craft brewers would be on sale.

Doubooni said: “We’ve identified a number of sites in a number of areas we feel will be able to support our and third-party beers.”

He said the majority of the new sites would be run as managed outlets. Camerons currently operates just three managed houses.

The new corporate identity will be accompanied by new brands, Gold Bullion (4.3% ABV) and IPA (3.8% ABV).

Camerons said: “A new range of keg ales and lagers are being trialled and we are revising our selection of bottled ales to reflect the new brands and image.”

Clean and modern​

The new identity has seen an update to the image of the lion, with a contemporary design that now points east, suggesting a look to the future.

Chris Soley, director and general manager at Camerons Brewery, said: “We feel the new imagery is clean and modern, while still maintaining the history and heritage of the brewery.

“The next few months will see some exciting new changes given the work on the corporate brand identity and brand portfolio; 2015 will see Camerons celebrate 150 years in business. Our plan is to see Camerons brands dominate our north-east heartland, but also see our products available to suppliers and customers nationwide.”

At the start of this year, Camerons said it planned to make acquisitions after completing a £24.7m refinancing deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate & Institutional Banking.