Corporate Social Responsibility

As a business with more than 200 years behind us, one of our key objectives is to build sustainable businesses for the long term. We understand that we cannot achieve this if we do not respect the place and role that we play within our communities and the impact that we have on the environment and society. Having a well-developed and defined approach to our corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a natural extension to many of the things that we have been doing for decades, however we recognise that in a changing world we will need to continue to adapt.

Our core values are central to how we behave and govern the actions we take to improve our operations and performance. At the same time understanding the role that we play in our communities, and seeking to minimise any negative impacts from our actions, whilst maximizing the positive effects of what we do is intrinsic to the  development of our company. This document sets out the principles we aim to follow in order to achieve this.

Our core businesses are:

• Thwaites Pub Company, our tenanted and managed pub estate
• Thwaites Inns of Character, our individual characterful inns
• Thwaites Hotels & Spas, our full service 4 Star regional hotels
• Thwaites Lodges, our contemporary budget accommodation with a great food offer on hand
• Thwaites Brewery, our small Craft Brewery supplying beers exclusively to our hotels, inns, pubs and lodges.

Our commitment to corporate social responsibility is underpinned through our core values and our commitment to eye for quality, craftsmanship, innovation and warm hospitality. Our Directors ensure that each of our businesses works to improve performance across a wide range of CSR activities.

Every year we will identify key CSR issues arising in the Company, agree actions for improvement as well as measuring how we have got on with the previous year’s objectives.

Our CSR principles:

• Shared Responsibility: We aim to develop and implement social and environmental policies which demonstrate our core values by involving our stakeholders to ensure shared ownership of responsibilities and rewards.
• Honesty, Integrity & Accountability: We will communicate our policies, objectives and performance openly and honestly to our stakeholders. We will listen to views and suggestions and encourage involvement.
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Continuous Improvement/Sustainability: We are committed to reviewing and measuring our CSR activities and performance. We will develop and implement CSR policies and procedures, monitor effectiveness and work towards improvements.
• Demonstrate Compliance: As a minimum we will meet or exceed all relevant legislation. Where no legislation exists, we aim to develop and implement our own appropriate standards.

Key Activities:

Environment

We will take all reasonable steps to manage our operations in a way that minimises our impact on the environment and promotes good environmental practices. We will set ourselves high standards in production, quality and safety and look to reduce our energy and water consumption and act responsibly in regard to the management of waste.

Communities

We will build relationships with the communities in which we trade by encouraging our people and those acting on our behalf, to consider the needs of others. We will obtain a wide range of views on our social and environmental policies and activities.

Alcohol and consumption

We will promote our products for people to enjoy in a responsible way and actively discourage product misuse.

People

We will respect our employees by encouraging their development and training, and provide a safe working environment. We are committed to ensuring that all employees receive equal treatment regardless of colour, nationality, race, religion or belief, ethnic origin, sex, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or age. Our aim is to provide satisfying employment in a successful business.

We have developed a corporate social responsibility strategy to embed these principles into our organisation, and have implemented a management framework to regularly monitor, audit and review our progress. This policy will be communicated to our stakeholders and will be followed by our employees and all those who work on our behalf.