Trade recalls the legacy of Harry Morrison

Trade recalls the legacy of Harry Morrison

Many in the drinks and retail trades in NI will be saddened to hear of the death of Harry Morrison, who passed away in September at the age of 76 following a short illness.

As a managing director of the former wholesaler and symbol operator, J&J Haslett, Harry enjoyed an exemplary retail career, particularly as a champion of Northern Ireland’s symbol retail sector as they faced the onslaught of the British multiples in the mid-1990s.

But Harry enjoyed much success in the licensed trade as well. When he was appointed to J&J Haslett in 1995, there was some surprise across the local grocery sector. Unlike his predecessor, John Millar, who had brought with him vast retail experience, Harry was coming from 30 very successful years spent in the drinks business – first with Guinness and latterly, with Dillon Bass, where he managing director between 1992 and 1995.

Harry, however, had no time for the naysayers. The move, he insisted at the time, was an ‘internal promotion’:

‘Haslett’s were bought by BWG which, in turn, is owned by Irish Distillers which, in turn, is owned by Groupe Pernod Ricard,’ he said.

 

Talented

One of those people who worked with Harry during his time in the local drinks trade was Stephen Magorrian, former boss at Botanic Inns and now MD of the Horatio Group. While he remembers Harry as ‘a stern man’, he says that he was also ‘very fair, very focused and very capable’:

‘In my time at Guinness, Harry was, I think, MD of Irish Bonding. When IB and Guinness merged [in the early 70s], he became commercial director of Guinness Northern Ireland and I would have known him in those days,’ Stephen told LCN.

‘He had a good relationship with those people who worked with him and dealt with him…He had a great way of managing the relationship with his staff but, at the same time, making sure that everyone met the standards that he had set.’

Stephen recalled Harry’s contribution to Irish Bonding at a time of great change and development for the company:

‘He worked with Brian Duffy, Jeff Jamet, John Lavery and Jim Clerkin, they were the five lead directors in Guinness NI in those days and they were a formidable and talented team…Harry played a big role in establishing the Irish Bonding Company – a big part of what is now Diageo – and I think that’s his legacy to east Belfast…He achieved great things there and did a lot to shape what was happening in the trade in NI at that time.’

Another of those who can recall Harry from his days in the local trade is Jim O’Neill, founder of United Wine Merchants and former MD at drinks supplier, Botl.

‘He was a real character, a real gentleman of the trade and he knew the business inside out,’ said Jim. ‘He was a pleasure to know.

‘I was very sad to hear that he had passed away, he had so little time to enjoy his retirement,’ he added.

 

 

Retail

When it came to Harry’s long career in retail, he was known for his modernist approach.

During his time with J&J Haslett in the mid to late 90s, he faced down the convenience revolution that had been caused by the arrival in Northern Ireland of the British multiples. The new stores drove up standards and applied unprecedented pressure to the convenience chains, including Haslett’s own Mace symbol brand.

For Harry, the solution was clear:

‘They’ve got to change from being small, 9 to 6 grocery stores,’ he argued, adding with extraordinary prescience, ‘If they want to survive, they need to become efficient, well-laid out and well-lit convenience store with longer opening hours.’

Harry also took his own advice, presiding over a huge rebranding operation at Mace, ushering in an era of bright new exteriors and roomy, well-lit shop floors.

His achievements didn’t go unnoticed and, at the age of 57, Richard Burrows, chief executive of Groupe Pernod Ricard, sent him to BWG in England, a holding company for Pernod Ricard’s distribution companies, where he began a review intended to establish structures for future trading.

 

Harry Morrison was laid to rest following a service in Killinchy Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church on September 13.