Visit to Queen's Award drinks firms

August 8, 2006: Two drinks companies have received a visit from The Queen's Awards Office as part of a tour to encourage applications from more drinks-related businesses for the UK's most prestigious business award.

St Peter's Brewery, in South Elmham, a winner of The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2006 for its export success, hosted a visit by Stephen Brice from The Queen's Awards Office. Also present were representatives from Muntons Malted Ingredients, based in Stowmarket, who supply St Peter's Brewery and were themselves Queen's Award winners in the International Trade category in 2004.

Colin Cordy, managing director of St Peter's Brewery, said: "St Peter's Brewery is delighted to have been chosen as one of the recipients in 2006.

"One of our key objectives is to become the leading international brand of English beer and with our growing success exporting to different world markets it seemed an opportune moment to submit our details to The Queen's Awards Office for consideration.

"The Award has gained additional exposure for the St Peter's business and brand both in the UK and overseas. Our staff were excited and delighted to receive the Award and overseas agents and distributors have been similarly pleased. Having such a prestigious Award adds credibility to our business and I am sure we will see benefits from the accolade over the next five years."

Alan Ridealgh, deputy managing director of Muntons Malted Ingredients,
added: "The Queen's Award has always carried a degree of kudos unmatched by any other type of award; recognition at the highest level of an extraordinary achievement by a UK company. This was the main reason for Muntons Malted Ingredients applying for the Award.

"We knew that we had taken a significant step in growing our export trade and The Queen's Award for Enterprise officially recognised this. The publicity
following our success in receiving the Award helped to raise our business profile. And there were benefits within the company itself; winning the Award gave everyone a real boost."