St Austell expands training facilities

April 17, 2005: As St Austell Brewery unveils plans to expand its training operations by relocating from the William Cookworthy Inn in its home town to the nearby White Hart Hotel, the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) has awarded the brewery grade one status for training.

Training and recruitment director Vicky Crossingham is confident the new centre will seriously enhance training services. "The move to the White Hart is a sign of our commitment to improving skills among the licensed trade in Cornwall and Devon," she said. "The William Cookworthy has become synonymous with quality training, but we are confident we can build on that good name by expanding the variety of courses at the White Hart.

"We are also proud to announce that we are developing our successful mobile training courses enabling us to cover all aspects of the licensed trade from wines and spirits to cellar training at almost any venue across the South West. By running such an extensive programme of training we are able to ensure all our licensees offer the best possible service to our customers."

The brewery is renowned for offering BII-accredited training courses to members of the licensed trade across Cornwall and Devon. Following a recent assessment the company was praised for its "outstanding record of achievement and compliance" with the BII's rigorous training standards and awarded a grade I rating.

BII freelance trainer Ken Gordon said: "St Austell Brewery is a BII centre of excellence and this is because of the high standards the company demands. Its pass rate is also well above the national average - for example, in excess of 90 per cent of licensees training for the all-important National Certificate of Personal License Holders with St Austell Brewery pass the course, whereas the national average is around 60 per cent. We put this down to the company's drive for thoroughness."