UK: Young & Co.'s chairman dies

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 18 September 2006

John Young CBE, chairman of UK brewer and pub group Young & Co.'s has died after a long and courageous battle against cancer.

Young, 85, was the great-great-grandson of Charles Young, who acquired the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth and founded Young's with Anthony Bainbridge in 1831.

He joined Young's in 1954 and was appointed to the company's board in 1955, the year the company floated on the London Stock Exchange. Young became chief executive in 1962, spending 37 years at the helm of the company before becoming executive chairman in 1999.

The company's board said today (18 September) that it extended its "deepest sympathies" to the Young family.

The news comes a month after Young's sold its historic Ram Brewery site in London to property developers Minerva for GBP69m (US$129m).

Young's announced in May that it was to merge its brewing operations with regional brewer Charles Wells to form Wells & Young's Brewing Co. Young's, which will continue to operate separately as a pub retailer, will hold a 40% stake in the enlarged brewer.

Sectors: Beer & cider