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13
Jun 2021
Continuing the best-known name in the Harrogate district
There are few better known names in the Harrogate district than Theakston.
Robert Theakston started brewing beer in Masham in 1827 and his great-great grandson Simon continues the tradition today.
Simon is joint managing director of T & R Theakston, one of two major breweries in the picturesque market town. His cousin, Paul, is in charge of the other one — Black Sheep Brewery.
Despite his strong Masham connections, Mr Theakston is well placed to appraise recent developments in the wider Harrogate district: he lives near Boroughbridge, went to school in Harrogate and represented the Conservatives on Harrogate Borough Council for four terms. He was also chairman of Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the agricultural charity that organises the Great Yorkshire Show, from 2008 to 2016.
But nothing in his long career prepared him for the potentially ruinous overnight impact of covid when the first lockdown began in March. He says;
The furlough scheme saved jobs and the company rapidly converted its visitor centre at the brewery into a fulfilment centre for online orders — something a company that prides itself on tradition had not overly pursued until then. He says:
Family tradition
The visitor centre is due to reopen on June 21 if the lingering restrictions on pubs are lifted. Monday's decision will be critical for the industry. Mr Theakston, who is married with two grown-up children, says:
Nevertheless, so far the company has survived covid with its 35 staff still intact. It seems a surprisingly low number of employees for an organisation that sells into 20 countries but the business model involves collaborating with other firms, such as Heineken, which handles distribution.
Mr Theakston describes the company as "a medium-sized traditional family brewing company." And, for all the difficulties of the past year, he remains optimistic.
Local politics
The future for Harrogate Borough Council, however, is less secure. The local authority, on which he represented Harlow Moor until 2018, is set to be abolished as part of the national government's devolution agenda. Mr Theakston supports the single council model for North Yorkshire championed by North Yorkshire County Council rather than the east-west split favoured by his former council colleagues in Harrogate. He explains:
Read more:
- £2 billion devolution negotiations kickstart as councils submit proposals
- Tickets go on sale for extended Great Yorkshire Show
Harrogate Borough Council is pursuing numerous active travel plans, such as the £7.9m Station Gateway project and the pedestrianisation of James Street, to reduce traffic and encourage people to walk and cycle. The plans have proved controversial — does he support them?
It has been a difficult year for another organisation close to Mr Theakston's heart — Yorkshire Agricultural Society — which decided to proceed with the Great Yorkshire Show next month when many other events have been cancelled. Was he surprised?
Crime and cricket
The Theakston name has also become synonymous with the annual crime writing festival organised by the arts charity Harrogate International Festivals. Under its sponsorship, the festival brings many of the leading names of the genre to the town each year.
Arts and brewing may seem an unlikely match but Mr Theakston talks of beer "providing the social lubricant that lets people enjoy being with other people" and the ventures the company supports also encourage people to mingle convivially.
Recently it has also sponsored poet Ben Taylor, also known as Yorkshire Prose, to wax lyrical about the a pint being a metaphor for social interaction.
Mr Theakston is a huge cricket lover so it's perhaps no coincidence his company sponsors the Nidderdale Amateur Cricket League and the annual National Village Cup in which some 340 villages compete for the chance to play in the final at Lord's.
It's little wonder the name Theakston perhaps vies with Bettys as the most well known in the district — and at least we know for certain the Theakstons exist.
There was a time when its familiarity may have faded. The family relinquished control of the business in the 1990s before buying it back in 2003, and Mr Theakston pledges it will remain in the family, in the heart of Masham.
Can he foresee the day when the business no longer consumes his professional life?
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