Bristol craft brewer and pub chain Butcombe’s name has been adopted by its parent group more than nine years after it took it over.
Butcombe, which was launched as a tiny brewery in 1978 by ex-Courage Western director Simon Whitmore, has expanded exponentially since Channel Islands-based Liberation Group snapped it up in 2015.
At the time of the acquisition it had it just 19 pubs and its beer range did not extend much further than its Original bitter – as its name suggests, the first beer brewed by Mr Whitmore in converted farm buildings on his land near the village of Butcombe.
Under Liberation’s ownership it has made a number of acquisitions to build a 137-strong portfolio of mainly pubs with bedrooms across the South and West of England.
Its brewery, now based in Wrington, also produces a wide range of beers, including Goram IPA Zero, which became the first low-alcohol beer to win a gold medal in the inaugural World Alcohol-Free Awards.
Butcombe also produces Ashton Press Cider, which it added to its range in 2003 when it took over the former Long Ashton Cider Company. 
Liberation said the rebrand to Butcombe Group as its corporate identity aligned with its strategic priorities.
Led by its market leading food and drink offering, the expansion and development of the pub estate had been focused on the South of England, an area that now had the group’s largest concentration of pubs, it added.
Three sub-brands – Butcombe Pubs & Inns managed estate, Butcombe Brewing Co and Butcombe Boutique Inns – will now be the group’s main drivers of growth, it said.
Rebranding to Butcombe Group created cohesion between these three sub-brands and championed a name that had “become synonymous with award-winning beer, quality accommodation and a market leading premium food and drink offering”. 
Butcombe Group chief executive Jonathan Lawson said: “The Butcombe brand has quickly established itself as a leader in the premium pubs and drinks business.
“Following a period of successful expansion, it is now the largest part of our business and the area where the majority of our growth is likely to come from.
“Adopting Butcombe as our corporate brand is the logical next step and will support our exciting plans for future development.”
The group’s Channel Islands operations would continue to remain an important part of the business and its growth plans, he said, and would remain unchanged under the Liberation brands.
The Group’s accommodation offer had continued to develop, growing to more than 400 available rooms, with plans to increase this to more than 700 within the existing estate, he added. 
Over the past seven years, Butcombe Group has expanded significantly through organic growth and strategic acquisitions from Brains, Wadworth and Cirrus Inns.
This year it successful launched its premium room offering – Butcombe Boutique Inns -while at the same time its Butcombe brewing and drinks business continued to grow alongside its packaging, distribution and free trade business.
Butcombe Original also recently overtook rival Cornish brewer Sharp’s Doom Bar as the South West’s No 1 selling cask ale and Top 10 UK-wide, while its Tall Tales Pale Ale was now one of the fastest-growing keg ales in the South.
The group rebrand came as Butcombe achieved double-digit growth in Christmas bookings against last year’s performance – with the biggest rise is morning trade, pointing to growing demand for brunches and lower alcohol occasions, Jonathan Lawson said.
“We have also seen a real move to celebrate Christmas out of the home, with bookings on Christmas day up significantly,” he added.
“Despite recent storms and fragile consumer confidence, we remain encouraged by trading in the second half overall which is running slightly ahead of first half like-for-like sales growth of 6.4%.
“We have been particularly heartened by the performance in our London pubs, where the investment in our sites and offer has been really well received by our customers and we have driven double digit growth in London for the last 12 weeks.”
Butcombe’s Bristol pubs include The Whitmore Tap on Whiteladies Road, which it converted three year ago into its first taproom and named after Simon Whitmore, who died in 2012.
