Obituary: Bob Allerton

Bob Allerton, regional sales manager in the north of England for Hatch Mansfield, has died aged 33.

Bob passed away on 30 December at The Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford after a long fight against cancer.

Mark Calver, sales director at Hatch Mansfield, said: “Bob was an amazing person in many ways which not everyone would have had the privilege to know.

“The UK wine industry will be the worse for having lost Bob. He was known by many in the North of England both in the off-trade and the on-trade.

"He was deep yet funny, he was serious yet easy going, and he had a passion for both customer service and business in general.

"He continued to challenge us to follow up his leads which were often phoned through from the Hospice.

“When he joined Hatch in 2005 he was not the front runner on paper but face to face he was the clear winner – he just had something that could not be described, but it was powerful and infectious.”

His sentiments were mirrored by managing director Patrick McGrath MW, who said: “The team at Hatch is feeling a deep sense of loss. Bob will be much missed by all of us.

“He was hugely popular with everyone who loved his charm and wit. He was an excellent salesman, hard working and very professional.

“The fact that so many of his customers have kept in touch during his long fight is testament to how much he was loved and respected by so many of them.”

Born on 7 June 1976, Bob was educated in the east of England and then followed his passion for the catering industry and achieved a B.Sc., Class 2:1 at Sheffield Hallam University in Hotel and Catering Management.

He then travelled and taught English in Taiwan before returning to the UK and establishing himself as manager at Wineways Off Licence in Leeds.

After almost a year, Bob moved in 2002 to Matthew Clark in York and spent three years working in the business.

He joined Hatch Mansfield in 2005 as regional sales manager and looked after the north of England, both independent retail, wholesale and Matthew Clark, developing new business and achieving impressive results.

A statement from Hatch Mansfield said: “It is a testament to the foundations that he laid down that even during his illness his business continued to grow.

“All his friends at Hatch Mansfield will all look back with fondness and amusement when they recall Bob’s ‘Wheel of Wine’ event that he demonstrated both at a Matthew Clark National Conference and at the Hatch Mansfield Christmas party.

“Many thought after seeing his performance that if he had wanted to leave the wine industry he could have gone on the ‘stand up’ or ‘game show’ circuit.

“Bob spent some eight weeks in the superb care of the doctors and staff at The Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford.

“They treated Bob with professionalism, sensitivity and humour particularly when he organised the watering of their plants or indeed when organising Christmas lunch and wine pairings for his carers own Christmas lunches the week before he died.

Bob is survived by his wife Kirstie, and two young sons, Lucas (3) and Toby (1).

Alan Lodge, 06.01.2010