After World War Two, Lizzy Rudd’s grandmother Ethel Rudd became chairman. Had it always been an ambition for her to follow in her nana’s footsteps?
“No, I never assumed that I’d become chairman, there was never any pressure or expectation that I’d join the business,” says Ms Rudd.
When Ms Rudd first joined the family firm in the late 1980s it wasn’t in wine, but in spirits. Specifically she first worked in the marketing department for BBR’s then whisky brand Cutty Sark.
A massive seller, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, that one product used to account for more than two thirds of BBR’s annual revenues.
Almost a decade after Ms Rudd joined the family business she left to concentrate on bringing up her three children. In 2005 she returned as deputy chairman.
Today BBR has 400 employees, and an annual turnover of £187m. In addition to its London headquarters, the company has two giant warehouses in Hampshire, where it stores millions of bottles of wine.
What did it take for Ms Rudd to make the step up to the chairman position? “You’ve got to be a good steward of the business, to maintain what makes it tick,” she says.
