Young & Co.’s Brewery, P.L.C. announced that Steve Goodyear is to stand down as non-executive chairman and will retire from the board following the company’s Annual General Meeting in July 2024. He will be succeeded in this role by Steve Cooke. Steve Goodyear has served as non-executive chairman of the company since July 2017.

The Board has planned carefully for Steve’s succession and having overseen Simon Dodd assume the chief executive role last July, agrees that next year is the right time for Steve to step down. He was previously chief executive from 2003 to July 2016, at which point he stood down and became a non-executive director. Over his time at Young’s, Steve has overseen the transformation of Young’s into a premium, individual and differentiated managed house operator of pubs with rooms. He originally joined the Company in 1995, having previously worked in a number of senior positions across the industry for over 20 years.

Steve Cooke will join the board as a non-executive director on 1 November 2023, before transitioning to non-executive chairman in July 2024 after the Company’s 2024 Annual General Meeting. Steve is currently the senior partner at Slaughter and May and has a wealth of corporate experience having joined the firm in 1982 before heading its mergers and acquisitions practice from 2001 to 2016. He has advised companies in the consumer, leisure, media and retail sectors, and will bring invaluable experience and an external perspective to the Board.

He will retire from Slaughter and May on 30 April 2024.