The more things change, the more they stay the same.
There can’t be very many people in the Scottish trade more qualified to testify to that than Inverarity Morton managing director, Stephen Russell.
Russell, who marked his 50th anniversary with the company in February, has been at the helm of Inverarity Morton for 20 years, having been joint managing director for six before that.
That’s given him a front-row seat to a period of almost unimaginable change in the Scottish trade, from the consolidation of some of the biggest drinks brands to the smoking ban, lower drink drive limit, Covid-19 and Brexit.
But Inverarity hasn’t just been watching. There’s been a great deal of change at the company as well.
When Russell joined the business in 1975 it was known as William Morton. Following the acquisition of Inverarity Vaults in 2011 the business was rebranded as Inverarity Morton. But the company’s evolution was just getting started.
In 2012 Inverarity acquired specialist spirits supplier LA Wholesale. Then, a year later, Forth Wines.
The business moved to its current headquarters, in Glasgow’s Thornliebank area, in 2015. In addition to its office and warehousing spaces, the building also includes a professional-standard kitchen and a tasting room, allowing the company to host its own events in-house.
More recently, Inverarity Morton shook up the ‘trade show’ format with the launch of its annual Evolution event, which encourages brand owners to showcase their wares in weird and wonderful ways.
And then the Covid lockdowns provided the business with the opportunity to make further changes. New systems were introduced internally so that, when the trade reopened, Inverarity Morton emerged as a leaner, more efficient operation.
Those internal changes have helped the business to not only return to profitability, but
have taken it to a position where it is now well ahead of its pre-Covid figures.
“We’re three and a half years on now from turning in a much more stable, profitable company,” Russell told SLTN last month.
“It has its advantages, because we have happy staff. Over the past three and a half years we’ve given them wage increases way in advance of inflation. Given bonuses the past three years. Everybody’s had a bonus every year. The first year they got a double bonus. Then we did length of service awards.”
And the company’s own evolution continues in 2025 – Inverarity’s 80th year of operation – with a raft of new events for suppliers and customers.
“There will be more events this year than there ever have been,” said Russell.
“It’s a great way to communicate with people. And you have to build relationships. Business is business. You can’t just take things for granted. Competition is fierce and we need to make sure we’ve got our unique selling point. We’re not a brewer, so we don’t have brewing profits behind us. So we have to work hard to compete, and the only way we can compete, essentially, is service. Our service is, I think, highly regarded.
“I won’t name competitors but I do hear of service issues. I keep saying ‘build a relationship’.
“I’ve got a long-standing relationship with Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group. And with them I never take for granted that that business is there. You become friends, and then it’s even harder to make sure you do not become complacent; not taking anything for granted just because you are friends. You have to make sure you’re looking after them. For me, relationships are key.”
As he reflects on his five decades in the trade, it’s clear Russell has a passion for the relationships he has built through his career, but there’s an equal passion for the products.
“Can you imagine selling nuts and bolts?” he said.
“How excited do you get about that? Whereas our trade, you can go anywhere in the world, be in any hotel bar, any airport, and you can see the brands that we’re all associated with. I know sometimes we get a bad press because of alcoholism, but for the overall majority alcohol enhances people’s enjoyment of life, without it being to extremes. I think it’s a wonderful trade to be in.”
And while Inverarity’s range of products has grown significantly over the decades – and continues to evolve in 2025 – Russell has a particular enthusiasm for the wine side of the portfolio.
He said: “I would always encourage people to spend another pound or two pounds if you can. Between £7 and £12 you’ll find a difference, between £12 and £20 you’ll find a difference. Over £20 you’re really talking about degrees, because you’ll get some lovely wines at that price.”
Through the years, as can be imagined, he has had the opportunity to try some truly exceptional wines, but Russell stressed that what really excites him in wine terms is value for money.
“I like value for money. We used to be agents for Concha y Toro. We took Concha y Toro from 35,000 9-litre boxes up to around 350,000, at which point they established their own UK office and took direct control of it.
“But I was always a great advocate of Chilean wine, because you get fantastic value for money in Chile.”
With Inverarity now marking eight decades in business – and Russell having spent five decades with the company – it might be easy to reflect on the ‘glory days’ of the licensed trade and bemoan the current challenges facing the sector.
But Russell wouldn’t hear of it. Describing himself as an ‘eternal optimist’, he said he is upbeat about the sector’s future.
“People will still go to pubs. People will still go to restaurants,” he said. “Just look at Covid. We were all locked up in our houses and then as soon as we’re back out we want to socialise again, because we’re a sociable species.
“So I think the future of bars and restaurants – it might be different in the product – but people will still want to go to them. They’ll still want fed. And hopefully enough people still want to drink a glass of wine with their dinner. I’m optimistic about the future.”
As to what that future may hold for Russell himself, the veteran said the industry can expect to see him around for a while longer.
He said: “My health is fine. And the idea of retiring terrifies me! Because I don’t have hobbies. I’ve got a house in Portugal. I’m lucky. And I enjoy going to Portugal, but these days, with technology, you’re always on. Even when I’m away, I dial in, see how things are going, check the email. That’s just me. And I enjoy that, because it means when I come back I’m not coming back to things I don’t know about.
“I don’t think too much ahead right now. You never know what’s round the corner. Here I am, 71 and still feeling ok, still feeling mentally fine. Being happy to come to work.
“I pity people who don’t enjoy their work and don’t enjoy coming to work. I think one of the things about Covid is that we realised work isn’t just a means of getting an income, it’s a social environment where you interact with people instead of being hemmed in.”
In the meantime, Inverarity Morton, in its 80th year, will continue to focus on its product range and service.
And yet, in Russell’s view, even as Inverarity Morton and the wider industry has changed and evolved, the core of the business has essentially stayed the same.
“In 1975 we were supplying, essentially, spirits to the on-trade. We wouldn’t have been doing beer. We might have been doing a little bit of wine.
“We’re doing the same thing now, but there’s been a whole change in how we actually do it. It’s the advice on wine lists, tastings and all the rest of it. The service has evolved. The intensity of what we do and the extent of what we do has evolved.
“But, essentially, we’re sending out trucks with booze on them to deliver.
“The bones of it are the same.”
