St Austell Brewery

What does sustainability even mean? Ummmm… This week, I got to speak on a panel at the British Beer & Pub Association Annual Conference about sustainability in hospitality, alongside people who clearly care deeply about the future of this industry (thanks for the invite, James Gross ) We opened with the question: “What does sustainability mean to us?” - and thankfully we were all pretty aligned. Not just carbon. Not just compliance. Not just “the environment”. But resilience. Yes… the new shiny buzzword for ESG professionals in 2026. Buuuut it’s so true! Sustainability is about building businesses, communities and supply chains that can thrive in a changing world. Simple. It’s not a cost centre. Not an “extra thing to do”. It’s long-term value creation, risk mitigation, efficiency… survival. We also talked about the how. The power of telling authentic stories that feel real and relevant to customers. The importance of influence over authority in climate leadership (because you can’t mandate genuine culture change into existence). And, of course, collaboration. The future of sustainability in hospitality depends on it. At St Austell Brewery, one of the themes running through our new Impact Report is that we do not compete on climate. We operate within a wider system and recognise that meaningful progress only happens when businesses, suppliers, communities and industries move together. Ironically, I think that mindset is part of what makes businesses leaders in this space. Not trying to “win sustainability”, but approaching it with humility, pragmatism and openness. No pretending to be perfect. No performative sustainability (gross). Just doing what you can, when you can, and bringing people with you. That’s where real progress happens. Annnd occasionally, that’s how you win Best Sustainable Pub Company. 😉 Gosh my posts are long… gold star if you made it this far. ⭐️ Zero Carbon Forum , Sebastian Munden CBE Phoebe Fraser #Sustainability #Hospitality #ClimateLeadership #Resilience #Collaboration #ESG

Monthly meeting day today! When I sent the what’s app message telling my team we were mixing up our monthly meeting and taking to the south west coast path for a walking agenda, where the team could bring their dogs and grab a coffee, I got a few interesting emojis back!! Who said a productive meeting needs a meeting room and some power point slides. We ripped up that rule book today and took the team on an 8.5 mile ramble and what a glorious day it was. Focusing on key trends to support our businesses as well as focusing on all things charitable trust, talking and sharing great conversations in the sunshine is where real connections are made, challenges are allowed to happen, without awkward silences and profitability can flourish. St Austell Brewery Lee Taylor Andrew Thomas Nathan Boundy

Earth day 🌍 I spent yesterday at the Cornwall Hospitality Collective ’s Roots Cornwall event at The Lost Gardens of Heligan , chatting alongside Bethany Branigan , Helen Bishop and a whole host of brilliant people from across our sector. It’s the first time I’ve seen our local hospitality industry come together like this, exclusively in the name of sustainability... which is wild but a huge win. One of the big themes of the day was resilience… a shock to absolutely no one in sustainability right now. A nice little reminder that the question isn’t “can we afford to do this?” but “can we afford not to?” I sound like a broken record but we don’t compete on climate! None of this gets solved in isolation. The challenges we’re facing - climate, cost, supply, people - are shared. Which makes connection and collaboration across our sector, and across Cornwall and beyond, more important than ever. There’s some brilliant work happening across the county. Bringing people together like this feels like how we turn that into something bigger. Time to join the dots, raise the bar collectively, and move forward with greater pace and purpose. We’re proud to play our part at St Austell Brewery . Huge thanks to James C. and everyone involved in making it happen. Ps: Beth, I stole your photo - thanks 🤍 #Cornwall #Hospitality #Sustainability #Collaboration #Resilience #ClimateAction Helen Sprason Rowan Hartgroves