By Dave Hunter
Several of the country’s biggest drinks firms have signed on as corporate members of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA).
Diageo, Tennent Caledonian Breweries, Molson Coors, Inverarity Morton and Matthew Clark were announced as members of the group last week.
SLTA chief executive Paul Waterson said the fact the companies had signed up “shows great confidence in what we’re doing, and shows that they want to support the on-trade in Scotland, which frankly needs all the support it can get at the moment”.
“They’re bringing a bit of finance to the table, which is obviously very important to us,” he said.
“But they’re also very clear that they want to provide any expertise or help that they can in other ways – both from their companies’ point of view and individually, which is very important to us.”
The new members come as the SLTA moves to increase its reach across the licensed trade in Scotland.
In addition to drinks firms, the company has also recently confirmed independent pub company Kingdom Taverns as a new member.
And Waterson said the association is in the process of contacting thousands of personal licence holders across Scotland with a view to offering them complementary membership.
The steps are part of the SLTA’s ‘Time for Change’ strategy, which was unveiled earlier this year.
The three-year plan aims to grow the organisation’s membership and attract finance by repositioning the SLTA and stressing its value to the Scottish trade.
