Shepherd Neame has been crowned Corporate Community Hero at a prestigious annual MP dinner after an industry-led nomination process.
The Corporate Community Hero Award seeks to find brewers and pub companies that play a major role in improving the quality of lives in their communities.
The independent family brewer, which owns 300 pubs and hotels across London and the South East, has raised over £85,000 over the last five years, including £30,000 in less than a year for Kent Wildlife Trust – its 2023/24 Charity of the Year.
It is an active member of its region’s trade and tourism organisations – Visit Kent and Produced in Kent – helping to boost the local economy through tourism.
It sponsors a diverse range of local events including Broadstairs Folk Week, Faversham Literary Festival and Faversham Hop Festival. Shepherd Neame even appears as a landmark on Faversham’s own Monopoly board, with proceeds from every game going directly to local good causes.
It is also very active with local sports, partnering with groups including Kent Cricket, Maidstone United FC, Bromley FC and Kent Rugby.
Shepherd Neame alongside other pub companies were nominated for the award by steering group members from the working group PubAid which acts as the industry voice for pubs and their positive contribution to communities.
A panel of four judges – Des O’Flanagan, co-founder of PubAid, Rita King, honorary secretary of the APPBG, Mollie Davies from the British Institute of Innkeeping and Anne Toms from Budweiser Brewing Group – then chose Shepherd Neame as the Corporate Community Hero for 2024 from the nominated companies.
They were presented with the award at the Annual Beer Awards Dinner supported by the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group which took place at the House of Commons on May 21st.
Des O’Flanagan, Co-Founder of PubAid, said: “Every year the judging for Corporate Community Hero gets tougher. The number and calibre of nominations we receive gets higher every time as pub companies continue to increase the focus they put on community and charitable work. The impact the industry makes on society is phenomenal.
“With such a long-standing commitment to good causes though, Shepherd Neame really stood out to us this year. They are very varied in the causes they support, trying to touch on many different demographics to support a range of people and places.”
Shepherd Neame’s Chief Executive Jonathan Neame said: “As Britain’s oldest brewer, we have a long heritage and it is incredibly important to us that we make an active, positive contribution to the communities that we serve. We are proud to provide local jobs and support local businesses, and we also want to help ensure that the places our people live and work in grow and flourish. It is fantastic to have our efforts recognised with this award.”
