BEST IN THE BUSINESS
POST BUSINESS AWARDS 2019 ALL THE WINNERS
ACIDER manufacturer founded in the 1980s by the legendary late former Aston Villa chairman Sir Doug Ellis has been crowned the Birmingham Post Company of the Year.
Aston Manor Cider was started as a family firm and has since grown to become one of the UK’s largest independent manufacturers of the drink, counting brands such as Frosty Jack’s and Kingstone Press among its portfolio.
And now it has been crowned the city region’s top company at the 2019 Birmingham Post Business Awards at a gala ceremony at the ICC in front of hundreds of business and civic leaders. Aston Manor Cider was chosen from 11 category champions to be named the overall winner after it was recognised for its environmental credentials by taking home the Green Business of the Year crown.
The company, which exports to more than 20 countries, impressed judges with its investment and innovation to make its plant in Aston as sustainable an operation as possible.
Its initiatives include saving tonnes of raw material through recycled packaging, planting more than 350,000 trees in the Midlands and committing to sending no waste to landfill by 2020.
Last year the company was acquired by French agricultural cooperative Agrial a few months before Sir Doug died, but the Ellis family name lives on as his grandson James works as the firm’s chief financial officer.
Speaking at the ceremony, Jamie Weall, head of compliance at Aston Manor Cider, said: “We are a business that produces a lot of plastic, something which has had a lot of negative media interest in recent years so we are very keen to try to minimise that impact within the environment.
“Financially, in terms of using recycled content within our plastic, it has cost us as a business but we’re happy to pay that extra cost to make sure we minimise our impact.
“We are one of the only major alcohol manufacturers that actually uses recycled content within their plastic bottles and we’ve done a huge amount of other work related to our sustainability.
“We’re very pleased to win the Green Award and did not expect at all to be named Company of the Year.
“The awards have been a fantastic evening.”
He added: “Our new owners have been hugely supportive of us as a business.
“We are actually going to be investing in a new production line within Birmingham which our new owners are willing to spend millions of pounds on and there will definitely be significant numbers of new jobs created off the back of this.”
Marc Reeves, editor-in-chief of Reach Midlands which publishes the Birmingham Post, added: “Aston Manor Cider has been a stalwart of the city’s manufacturing and business scene for decades and long may that continue under its new owners.
“Following his sad passing last year, Sir Doug’s legacy lives on in so many ways in Birmingham, not least of which is the vibrant factory Aston
Manor Cider runs in the north of the city.
“With climate change and sustainability never far from the headlines these days, it’s gratifying to see that a company striving so hard to reduce its impact on the environment can be recognised in this way.
“Congratulations to Aston Manor Cider and of course all of our winners.”
The revamped awards welcomed four new categories for 2019 to celebrate achievements in corporate social responsibility, hospitality, property and young businessperson for those under 30s achieving business excellence.
The ceremony was hosted by journalist and broadcaster Daisy McAndrew and welcomed Labour peer Lord Andrew Adonis, considered the architect of HS2, as keynote speaker.
In his speech he gave a rousing defence of the high-speed rail project which has been coming under increasing fire in recent months over delays, spiralling costs and political pressure to amend or even scrap it completely.
Entertainment was provided by percussion group UK Drumline Ensemble and Acorns Children’s Hospice was the charity partner, with proceeds from the evening going towards its £2 million Save Acorns Black Country Hospice Appeal.
Chief executive Toby Porter spoke to guests about the charity’s appeal to save its Walsall site and a special presentation was made to James Wright who completed the mighty challenge of running a marathon a day in August and has so far raised more than £10,000 for Acorns.
This year’s ceremony would not have been possible without the help and support of our sponsors and commercial partners: Barclays, Birmingham Airport, Birmingham Metropolitan College, BusinessLive, Fazenda, HSBC, ICC, Jaguar Land Rover, Openreach, Park Regis, PwC and Reach Solutions.