Labatt Brewing chief leaves

Labatt Brewing UK has lost marketing director David Radford, who left last Friday, three weeks after the company was bought by Whitbread.

Radford’s departure comes as Whitbread reviews its own marketing department as well as Labatt’s.

The brewer has put strategic director Frazer Thompson in charge of integrating Labatt into Whitbread. Thompson says: “The management of Labatt brands will be brought into Whitbread. The Labatt head office will close by the end of August.” The fate of other Labatt marketing staff is still unclear.

Radford joined the brewer in 1990 and was recently appointed as marketing director for Labatt’s Canadian Lager and Labatt’s Blue, launched in the UK two years ago.

It is not known where Radford has gone.