BrewDog boss vows to learn after ex staff tell of ‘culture of fear’

The co-founder of Scottish beer firm BrewDog has vowed to “listen, learn and act” after a number of former employees posted a letter on Twitter alleging a culture of fear at the company.

The group, calling themselves Punks with Purpose, claimed the craft beer producer had been built around a “culture of personality” driven by James Watt, above, since it was started in 2007.

The 61 signatories said: “Worse, by placing personalities at the centre of your messaging, you have inflated egos and fostered a culture within craft beer that deifies founders, and gives weight to sexist and misogynistic brewers who claim to be standing up for free speech.

“You have become a lightning rod for some of the worst attitudes present on both the internet, and in real life.”

‘Immense pressure’

The authors also accused the business of telling “lies” to drive awareness as it rapidly expanded from brewer to bar ownership.

They laid the blame at the feet of co-founder James Watt, saying a “significant” number of workers were suffering mental illness as a result of their experience at the company.

The letter stated; “The only reason BrewDog has become what it is, is that under immense pressure, good people have done bad things to achieve the job set before them, in such a way that benefits only the company.

“Being told to ignore health and safety guidelines? Don’t. Someone’s demanding you send beer to an event in the USA by bypassing customs? Nope.”

Responding on Twitter, Mr Watt said: “We are sorry”.

“We are focussed on building the best business we can, which is why the open letter we saw on Twitter was so upsetting, but so important.

“Our focus now is not on contradicting or contesting the details of that letter but to listen, learn and act.”

However, the Punks with Purpose group later claimed existing staff had been urged to sign a counter letter.

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