TIMOTHY Taylor Brewery’s new chief executive vowed to safeguard the quality of the Keighley company’s award-winning products.

Tim Dewey, who has taken over the helm from previous incumbent Charles Dent, said: “I want to ensure we don’t compromise on the quality of what we produce because that is the cornerstone of the business. It is sacrosanct.”

Mr Dewey was born in Michigan and brought up near Boston. He moved to the UK after meeting his future wife when he came to England as a student.

He has come to Timothy Taylor’s from a background in marketing some of the world’s best known alcoholic brands.

His previous roles included stints as global marketing director for Smirnoff, international marketing director for William Grant & Sons Distillers, brand director for the original golden beer Pilsner Urquell and marketing and UK commercial director for Drambuie.

He has been with Timothy Taylor since December last year. Mr Dent is now the company’s non-executive chairman.

Mr Dewey said he is keen to promote brands such as Landlord and Boltmaker more assertively.

“They already have an amazing following around the country but there’s scope to take that to the next level and make sure we are explaining to consumers and publicans why our products have a premium price,” he said.

“We’re also looking at developing a more sophisticated commercial arrangement for when we sell to the trade, as it is being presented with a lot of different brands, some of which are at very low prices.

“Another area we are looking at is export. We currently export through Hall and Woodhouse, a regional brewer in the southwest, who I’ll be meeting with to talk about how we can do better with exports. At the moment, we’re only scratching the surface in this area.”

Mr Dewey, who now lives in Harrogate, said he was impressed with the work completed to modernise Timothy Taylor’s Knowle Spring brewery.

“I feel a responsibility to what is not only a strong brand that represents Keighley, but also to the local community,” he said.

“The company was able to use local companies to carry out the modernisation, and it was great that it didn’t have to go further afield.

“The more successful we are as a business the more money we can spend in the community. It’s a virtuous circle.”

He added: “There is a resurgence of interest in ale drinking, which is positive for us, but we can’t take it for granted.

“There is a trend towards drinking less, but we can benefit from the adage of ‘drink less but drink better’.

“After a period of gradual decline in the ale industry, we’ve recently seen growth. A new, younger legal age consumer is coming into the marketplace.

“People are looking for more in terms of flavour and they’re looking for something different to what their parents drank.”