Cheers to the lucky man Chris Jowsey

Aug 21 2009 By Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

THE film Oh Lucky Man has a lot to answer for. The 1973 Malcolm McDowell-inspired and Lindsay Anderson- directed minor classic about a travelling coffee salesman surfaces all too rarely, but the sentiment is unconditional.

We’re reminded of it on meeting Chris Jowsey, former managing director at the Newcastle Brown Ale plant in Dunston, Gateshead, and now head of change at Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE). Working with Newcastle Brown every day? Oh lucky man. Visiting pubs because it’s your job. Oh lucky man. Being able to say, ‘I’ve been in Barcelona with customers where they have it on draught’. Oh lucky man.

Of course, there is far more to Chris Jowsey than being a man on a jolly. He is heavily involved in North East licensing issues and operator responsibility, in the promotion of the region as a destination for business and leisure and the preservation of our heritage such as the working men’s club (perhaps an anachronism) before its renowned social values and community focus are eroded too far.

He has helped build strategic partnerships with community organisations to encourage responsible alcohol consumption and has worked with Turning Point since 2003 on a number of projects, the latest of which piloted a new alcohol intervention service at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

Chris is Newcastle born and bred but has worked in the licensed trade all over Scotland. He has run a couple of his own businesses – one of which was going to make him a dotcom millionaire (the fact that we met in Newcastle and not in Nassau indicates it didn’t). He was brought into S&N in 2003 when the company took over Boulmers, the cider-maker, to weld the two together.

“It went very well,” he says. “Then in 2004 I moved to the Federation Brewery which got me back into the North East. I helped bring the two together – Newcastle Brown Ale and the Federation plant. I then worked at John Smiths at Tadcaster covering the free trade and in April this year moved into the leased pubs side.

“I live here in the North East, I care about it and when I was at Newcastle Brown Ale I realised how much it was part of the region. I’m a Newcastle United fan as well. Chris is also on the board of the Newcastle-Gateshead Initiative (NGI), helping to sell the pair to the rest of Britain and to the world.

“When Heineken took over S&N last year, it was a worry,” says Chris. “But a DVD came around featuring the chief executive with a glass on one side of him and a bottle on the other. It wasn’t Heineken or Foster’s but Newcastle Brown Ale – and there he was at the end pouring it out and saying, ‘Cheers guys’.

“They knew there’s real value in that brand. In the US it’s the number-one imported ale and they just think of it as Newcastle.

“Just think about it, an export from this region that is known anywhere in the world. I walked down the Champs Elysees and bought a glass of Brown Ale on draught. It cost £6.50, but ...

“We’re very much investing in the NGI World Cup bid; we’re really keen to support it,” he says with his S&N hat on. “My seven-year-old will be 16 when it comes around and he’s really looking forward to it. We’ve just been talking about how Brown Ale can help with publicity and competitions, etc, outside the region as well as inside.

“I set up a forum to get licensees together to discuss policing the smoking ban and how we want Newcastle to look. We developed the Best Bar None concept in the city. It’s important for bars to keep up standards; we’ve got the diversity to meet the demands of people from all over Europe. We’ve got the whole range from the Bigg Market to the Crown Posada to gay bars. With NGI and Best Bar None licensing, it’s just going to get better – change meets people's requirements.

“We have a scheme called The Club Is The Hub where we help struggling social clubs, trying ways to get people in, getting them to open up early serving coffee and tea. It makes them more sustainable and will bring in a new generation. They’ve got to evolve.”

Chris invited one of his Heineken directors to a club to help him grasp the differences between them and high-street bars. In the one they chose, a youth club was being held in one part of the building – complete with sweet shop – next to the public bar which had 20 to 30 people in enjoying a quiet drink.

“There was something going on in the concert room and in the lounge,” says Chris. “He couldn’t get over the size of it and the volumes of beer being sold, plus it was serving the community.

“I see it as part of my job to remind Scottish & Newcastle and Heineken about Newcastle. And when we closed the Tyne Brewery in 2005 we set up the Newcastle Brown Ale Fund with the Community Foundation, contributing £20,000 a year for 10 years.”

Fund projects for 2009 include Tomorrow’s People Trust which helps break the cycle of unemployment and welfare dependency. A Working It Out Scheme is an intensive programme supporting young people into training and employment. The fund supported Benwell Young People’s Development Group to establish a cookery club. Sports For Youth recruits disaffected and disadvantaged young people facing social isolation and Newburn Riverside Recreation Association provides activities for that particular neighbourhood.

Chris says: “It’s very much about the spirit of Newcastle Brown Ale, local groups and local ideas. So am I an ambassador for Newcastle Brown Ale?”

Yes, you lucky man.

Chris Jowsey on influence

What is influence?

It’s the ability to shape people and events by sharing your insight, knowledge and contacts with others.

Is influence the same as power?

No, definitely not. The best influencers are those who shape matters in the absence of any formal power. They do this by making use of their intellect and social skills, not through the use of power over others.

Who or what have you been most influenced by?

My upbringing in Newcastle, my family and those who I have admired and learnt from in work. My Geordie upbringing influenced my strong belief in values – fairness, integrity, community, hard work and humour. My wife influenced me by introducing me to emotional intelligence and ‘empathy’. My kids keep my feet firmly on the ground and stop me spending all my time in pubs! In work, I admire those who have a vision of what they want to achieve and then shape the future accordingly.

All those people who believed in Newcastle Brown Ale over the years and acted as stewards for the brand deserve our gratitude and respect – particularly those in the US who saw what it could become and built a huge following for ‘Broon’ with our American cousins.

Who or what has benefited most from your influence?

You should really ask them! I’m most proud of the influence I have had (so far) over my children. I’m also proud to have positively influenced the quality of the night-time economy in Newcastle over the past few years. As an ambassador for Newcastle Brown Ale, I am proud to have gathered people prepared to use their creativity, rather than large amounts of marketing money, to maintain the visibility and relevance of the brand.

To be influential you must ...

Believe strongly in what you want to influence and have the humility to influence in a way that encourages others to take up the cause.