The Great British Drinks Company has named former Buxton Brewery managing director Dominic Metcalfe as its new managing director, as the Yorkshire-based group steps up efforts to steady and expand a portfolio of regional beer brands that has been assembled through a string of distressed acquisitions.

The appointment comes as the business seeks to move beyond rescue mode and into a more deliberate growth strategy. According to The Drinks Business and Grocery Gazette, the company intends to keep investing in both its breweries and the brands themselves, with Metcalfe’s arrival presented as a marker of its next phase. The group’s line-up includes Black Sheep, Purity, Fourpure, North, Magic Rock, Brick, Brew By Numbers and Saltaire.

Great British Drinks Company was formed in January 2026 and later bought several Keystone-owned breweries in a £6.5 million deal that was described as a restoration transaction. That acquisition saved 145 jobs at a time when Keystone had been warning that it was under severe financial strain, and it left the new owner with the task of reviving labels that still carry strong recognition but have faced years of upheaval.

Metcalfe brings direct experience of the sector’s pressures. During his time at Buxton Brewery, the business had filed notice of intent to appoint administrators and said it was considering all available options after citing weak consumer confidence, limited government support and lingering post-pandemic challenges. Separately, Buxton has since been targeting growth and has recruited a new finance chief as it aims for £10 million in turnover, suggesting that the wider business environment remains difficult but not without ambition.

Sunny Sharma, a co-founder of Great British Drinks Company, said Metcalfe had a strong record in brand-building and commercial growth and shared the company’s aim of restoring regional British brewing. Metcalfe said he was honoured to join the business and to work with its founders on that vision, signalling that the new leadership intends to pair investment with a clearer operational reset.

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