BIG INTERVIEW: Andrew Turner – from free cola to the St Austell boardroom

Andrew Turner has always been connected to pubs from when he was a youngster and, fast-forward a few years, he is now St Austell Brewery chief operating officer.

It is a journey that has taken him from a village pub in North Yorkshire to one of the most senior positions in British brewing and pub retailing, via a 19-year spell with Heineken and one of the most challenging first days any hospitality executive could imagine.

Yet despite overseeing a business that employs about 2,000 people, Turner remains rooted in the values he first discovered as a child standing behind the bar at his local.

Growing up in North Yorkshire, Sundays meant family trips to the Bay Horse in Burythorpe before lunch. While his parents chatted with locals over a pint, Turner found his own way to pass the time.

“I used to wander around collecting glasses,” he recalls. “Then before I knew it, I was getting paid in free Coca-Cola by the landlord.

“I loved everything about the local pub on a Sunday. The smell, the noise, getting paid in free Coca-Cola. That was probably when the seed was planted.”

After studying hotel and catering management at Sheffield Hallam University, Turner entered the trade on a more solid footing by running the George Hotel in Malton.

“It was a fantastic experience,” he says. “You’re effectively running your own business, making all the mistakes you do and learning from them.”

Eventually, the pull of a bigger stage became too strong. Tempted by what he describes as the “bright lights of London”, he left Yorkshire and joined Scottish & Newcastle as a sales representative, building relationships with pubs across Tottenham and Walthamstow before those areas began their journey towards gentrification.

That role developed into a lengthy and successful career with what became Heineken UK.

Learning through experience

Turner spent 19 years with the global brewer, working across sales, marketing, training and management roles.

“It was a great business to work for,” he says. “Despite being a huge global organisation, it still had that family DNA. It thought long term and cared about its people.”

The experience proved invaluable and highlighted many aspects of the drinks industry that have shaped the leadership principles he holds today.

Looking back, Turner counts both his time at Heineken and his move to St Austell Brewery among the major highlights of his career.

The latter opportunity arrived in 2020, presenting a chance not only to progress professionally but also to move his family from London to the south-west of England.

“I never intended being in London for 20 years, but suddenly 20 years had gone past,” he says. “We thought it was a good time for a change. Somewhere with more space and a different lifestyle for the family.”

He arrived at St Austell as managing director of the brewery’s beer and brands division.

Unfortunately, his timing could hardly have been worse.

Turner’s first day at St Austell Brewery was 23 March 2020… by the evening, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced the first national Covid lockdown.

“My first day in the business was dealing with Covid,” Turner says.

With pubs already closed and uncertainty surrounding the future of hospitality, his introduction became an exercise in crisis management.

Furloughing staff, closing sites and making decisions about brewery operations quickly replaced the traditional introductory meetings most new MDs enjoy.

“When you join a business, you normally spend six months getting to know people,” he explains. “After a few months, you know the people but not necessarily the business.

“I had the complete opposite experience. I got to understand the business incredibly quickly but didn’t know the people.”

If day one was of historical note, day two was memorable for entirely different reasons.

Determined to reassure brewing staff about why production should continue, Turner gathered employees in the brewery yard for a socially distanced address.

As he stood delivering his speech, dressed smartly and eager to make a good first impression, a seagull had other ideas.

“While I was explaining why I thought it was important we kept brewing, a seagull flew over and deposited its full load all over me,” he laughs.

“So my introduction to St Austell was quite interesting. Day one was Boris. Day two was the seagull.”

Fortunately, things improved from there and Turner became chief operating officer in late 2022, adding responsibility for the pub estate alongside brewing, distribution and sales operations.

The pressure of people

Ask Turner what creates the most pressure in his job and his answer focuses not on products or profit but people.

There are shareholders to satisfy, more than 120 business partners operating pubs and thousands of employees whose careers depend on the company’s long-term success.

“We’re a major employer in the south-west, particularly in Cornwall,” he says. “There’s a responsibility to create opportunities for people and help them build careers without feeling they have to leave the region.”

This commitment to employment sits against what Turner sees as increasingly challenging operating conditions.

Like many hospitality leaders, he believes rising employment costs and falling consumer disposable income are creating significant pressures across the sector.

“The amount of money people have got to enjoy themselves has gone down,” he says. “At the same time, the cost of a pint or a meal out has gone up. That’s fundamentally the issue in hospitality at the moment.”

He describes the feeling as constantly “pedalling faster” to keep performance moving forward, something that affects businesses throughout the industry.

Yet despite those pressures, Turner remains passionate about hospitality’s ability to provide opportunities.

“We enjoy employing people,” he says. “We enjoy employing young people. We want to be a leading employer in the south-west.”

Interestingly, after spending almost two decades heavily focused on brewing and drinks, Turner admits the pub side of the business has become a professional passion.

“If I was doing it all again, I’d probably get into pubs earlier,” he says. “I love the beer side, the brewing side and the brands. But I get real energy from being in our pubs and running our pubs.”

And that drive has changed how he views hospitality venues. Where once he could enjoy a meal without concern, responsibility for pub operations now means he notices every detail.

“You find yourself wondering whether the menus arrived quickly enough, whether the service is right and whether the food is going to be good,” he says.

“The experience completely changes when you’re responsible for it.”

One thing that has surprised Turner as he has progressed into senior leadership is how important it becomes to accept what you do not know.

“You can’t be an expert in everything,” he says.

His approach has therefore centred on surrounding himself with talented people and giving them the support they need to excel.

“If someone asked me to run the brewery for a day, good luck,” he jokes. “We’ve got brilliant experts around us and creating a team of people who are better than you in their field is absolutely critical.”

It is one reason he rejects the idea that leadership is inherently lonely. “I’m a people person,” he says. “My energy comes from being with people.

“Being in our pubs, being in our breweries and being out with our sales teams is where I get satisfaction and energy.”

Advice for the next generation

For younger industry professionals hoping to reach board-level positions, Turner’s advice is straightforward… don’t obsess over future promotions but excel in the role you already have.

“Do a bloody brilliant job in the job you’re doing today,” he says. “People are looking for stand-out performers.”

The second ingredient is curiosity.

Whether spending time with sales teams, pub managers or area managers, Turner believes the most valuable insights often come from those closest to customers.

Finally, he encourages people to keep their options open rather than plotting a strictly linear career path.

“Try to have as many doors in front of you as possible,” he says. “If you’re prepared to go left, right, zig-zag, up and down, your breadth of experience becomes far greater.”

When asked whether he has any regrets, Turner offers an analogy that sums up his outlook and leadership style.

“You shouldn’t spend too long looking in the rear-view mirror because if you’re looking in the rear-view mirror all the time, you’re going to have a horrible incident ahead of you,” he says. “Take the learnings, but focus on what’s coming next.”

For a man whose hospitality career began collecting empty glasses in exchange for free soft drinks, it is advice that seems to have served him well.

From village pubs in Yorkshire to helping shape the future of one of Britain’s best-known regional brewers, Turner has never lost sight of what attracted him to the industry in the first place: people, community and the unique atmosphere that only a pub can create.

And judging by his enthusiasm for the trade more than 30 years after that first Coca-Cola payment, it remains a passion that shows no signs of fading.