Bold New Leadership Team for Ossett Brewery
One of the UK’s most revered independent regional breweries has appointed a fresh executive team to propel further growth across cask and keg.
Ossett Brewery and its sister company SALT have made key appointments representing a full leadership change across the past two years. Edd Simpson, founder of Barrique Fine Wines, joined the brewery as Managing Director in 2023 and has now completed a transformation of the leadership team with the addition of Matt Howgate as Production Director and Rich Nelson as Sales Director.
Matt joins Ossett from Vocation and brings significant experience and a relentless focus on pushing operations forward and driving innovation; a strategy he will deliver in partnership with previous Vocation collaborator and Ossett’s new Head of Brewing, Gary Farlow. Rich, who originally joined Ossett from Molson Coors and has been a pivotal player in the success of SALT to date, moves into the Sales Director role to drive distribution for the core and Rat ranges across key accounts. Founder Jamie Lawson, who has been with the business since 2002, remains heavily involved.
Alongside the new team is a fresh new proposition and cross-channel campaign that will be rolled out over the coming months. Edd Simpson, MD, says “Our challenge as a cask producer is to embrace evolution and innovation whilst retaining our strengths and legacy. Cask is the most authentic beer in the market, steeped in heritage and with the strongest call to be considered premium craft. By using this foundation with a progressive mindset, I believe that cask beer has the potential to thrive, rather than survive in the beer market of the future; and as a team we’re beyond excited to be at the forefront of the resurgence of cask.”
About Ossett Brewery
Ossett Brewery is a new-fashioned, progressive brewery with real brewing legacy. Historically a cask brewery, their beers include the award-winning White Rat, which has a cult following and has grown organically to represent over half of their core volume. In recent years Ossett Brewery launched SALT, now the UK’s biggest, independent, craft on-trade brand and in 2025 launched the Rat range to enter craft/keg under the Ossett brand. As well as the brewery, Ossett has a pub estate of 32 pubs including two micro brewpubs.