INTERVIEW And it isn’t just fundraising efforts that help instil an


ethos of community spirit within Everards and its extensive network, with the business employing an altogether grander, macro vision; including the ambitious Everards Meadows project - a vibrant £30m leisure and tourism destination which will celebrates food and drink and will also house the brewery and its offices. “We try to have touchpoints within the East Midlands


with a real focus on Leicestershire and then dovetail those touchpoints with our business owners in their pubs,” says Stephen. “The intent is very much to ensure the audience that


interact with Everards going forward see an integration between a private, independent family business which looks to create wealth and long-term sustainable profit, which is nevertheless fully integrated with communities. Everards Meadows is a manifestation of that. “The launch of Phase 1a this summer, incorporating a


cycle store run by Rutland Cycling, a café run by Jenno’s Coffee House and the meadows themselves, is absolutely key in communicating that message. “Some may look at us creating our own building with a


cycle store and a café and ask what that’s got to do with beer and pubs but core to our purpose is building relationships with business owners and communities and that’s what we do; Everards Meadows will be a wonderful case study to show what we are all about. “We don’t look upon Jenno’s or the Rutland Cycling


team as business owners in any different way to our business owners leading our pubs. Our job is to have really good relationships with them because good relationships are anchored by trust - but it’s not our place to say “trust us” it’s our place to have a good relationship whereby those business owners reach that conclusion themselves.” And Stephen believes


that such collaborations ultimately ensures Everards becomes greater than the sum of its parts. “Laying 2.4km of


walkways and cycle paths through the meadows and investing £500,000 in a bridge over the River Soar connecting to the national cycle network is a good example of how we are marrying the commercial with the social and the community. “A successful meadows will


result in sustained growth for those buildings at Everards Meadows – it’s essentially a microcosm of the broader Everards.” Stephen was recently


recognised as Volunteer of the Year by Leicestershire Cares, a charity which Everards has a strong affiliation with alongside many other relationships and projects - such as the acclaimed


We Got This campaign with Carling; which has seen a pot of £20,000 distributed to worthy community causes in and around Leicester. While the recognition was welcomed, Stephen is quick to


insist that such acknowledgements are a reflection of the wider vision and values of Everards and points to his and his team’s responsibility to the company and wider society. “It was lovely to be recognised and it does very much


feel like an Everards recognition,” he argues. “One thing that happens in any good family business is


that the employees within that family business look towards the family for guidance in terms of their values and what the family is about. If you spoke with Richard Everard (the company’s fifth-generation Chairman) he would say that he is a custodian and is looking to develop the company and hand it over to his children (Julian and Charlotte, who sit on the Board) in better shape than what he picked it up in. “That rubs off on employees, so if you take the


Leicestershire Cares work, that’s a wonderful opportunity to contribute a few decent chapters and you do start to take on that custodian view yourself as well. “Everards Meadows, for example, will add a chapter or


two – but it’s not the end of the story.” And for Stephen, it is that mix of business and


communities coming together which will help set the course for a more prosperous future moving forward. “I think good organisations, and the people within those


organisations, ultimately want that organisation to be respected and relevant and contributing a voice to whatever is happening in their community. “I have a personal view that the team here is driven to leaving a really good structure and business culture, knowing that will then be evolved further by those who follow. I think that’s what makes any independent family business very special.”


‘Stephen was recently recognised as Volunteer of the Year by Leicestershire Cares, a charity which Everards has a strong affiliation with’


Everards’ beer range


56 business network July/August 2019


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