Beer company wins Coutts Prize for Family Business

A beer company has been named Best UK Family Business for the Greater London region. With an estate of more than 360 pubs across London and the South of England, Fuller Smith & Turner is the brewer of a range of award-winning beers, including London Pride and Vintage Ale. The company will join motor group JCT600 in the national finals which are to be held in June.

The firm was founded in 1829 when a struggling brewery asked John Fuller to join their enterprise. When the partnership fell apart, Fuller?s son, John Bird Fuller, enlisted the help of Henry Smith and his brother-in-law, John Turner in 1845. With fourth-, fifth- and sixth-generation members of the Fuller and Turner families still involved, the firm now has annual sales of ?222 million.

Michael Turner, chairman of Fuller, Smith and Turner said: ?We are really proud, as London?s last traditional family brewers to receive this wonderful accolade.?

The Coutts judging committee said it had been impressed with Fuller?s long term success and sustainability, its well-developed family governance structure and the firm?s substantial charitable donations.