Cadbury Schweppes boss moves to craft spirits maker Cotswolds Distillery

A member of the Cadbury chocolate manufacturing dynasty has joined the board of directors at craft spirits company the Cotswolds Distillery.

Sir Dominic Cadbury, previously chief executive and chairman of Cadbury Schweppes, is the grandson of factory founder George Cadbury.

He is the second key appointment to the Cotswolds board, following the addition of Richard Watling, former CEO of Justerini & Brooks.

The chairman joined Cadbury in 1964, five years before the company merged with Schweppes. He was appointed to the board there in 1975, before working as the company’s group chief executive between 1983 and 1993. He then served as Chairman until his retirement in May 2000. Sir Dominic has also previously held chairman positions at The Economist Group and the Wellcome Trust.

Sir Dominic said he was “delighted to be joining the Cotswolds Distillery Board and look forward to contributing to their plans to grow this exciting young business.”

Founded in 2013, Cotswolds Distillery began production in 2014. The distillery has a one million bottle per annum production capacity with sales growing by 75% to £3.1 million in 2017.

In September, it secured a nation-wide listing in Waitrose for its first whisky, which was released in October 2017, joining its Cotswold Dry Gin at stores across the UK.