Liberation Group consists of over 130 pubs, bars and inns with over 400 rooms, stretching across South of England and into the Channel Islands, employing over 1900 people. We’re very proud of our estate of local pubs, each venue with its own distinctive style and feel, focused on driving appeal to their local area and beyond, whilst leveraging scale by our focussed approach on people, learning and development, supplier chain and quality produce suppliers.
Based in the South West, Butcombe Brewing Co. has a state of the art brewery in Wrington, Bristol and a multi-million pound distribution and bottling plant in Bridgwater, Somerset. Alongside its pubs and bars, Liberation Brewing Co. has a unique craft brewery in Jersey and a retail and wholesale business covering all of the Channel Islands.
Meet our team
Jonathan Lawson
CEO, Liberation Group
Jonathan joined Liberation Group as CEO in January 2019. A 26 year career in retail and leisure and hospitality, which commenced as a graduate trainee in Marks and Spencer and has gone on to include Asda, Sainsburys, Greene King and Vision Express. In his last role at Sainsburys, Jonathan was at the forefront of its growth and expansion of its convenience division before joining the Board of Greene King in 2007 as Managing Director of Local Pubs. After four thoroughly enjoyable years, Jonathan departed Greene King for his first CEO appointment at Vision Express, which covered the UK, Ireland and the Middle East. The hospitality sector is ultimately the one Jonathan chose to return to. The people, the food and drink and the customers all coming together to form something quite special and in Liberation Group, quite unique. His two favourite beers are Goram IPA and Liberation IPA, favourite pubs, The Old Court House for breakfast, The Fleet for lunch and The Ship & Crown for a pint with some friends.
David Kelly
Chairman, Liberation Group
David Kelly joined Liberation Group as Chairman in August 2023. He brings with him significant experience from his executive and non-executive career that has included Chair of several businesses including Forest Holidays, and Non-Executive at others like The Gym Group and Holiday Extras.
Prior to this Kelly held various senior leadership positions at eBay, lastminute.com, Amazon and Rackspace.
Simon Hope
Chief Financial Officer, Liberation Group
Simon joined the Board of Liberation as CFO in January 2020 and as a Finance leader loves to joke that he has a “wealth” of experience from previous roles. His first consumer facing role was as Finance Director at retailer Claire’s and has since held CFO roles at optical retailer Vision Express and dermatology chain sk:n clinics, where he led the transaction from private equity investors Graphite Capital to Trispan. He is married to Sara and has a daughter at Exeter University and a son about to start GCSEs. His favourite beer is Rare Breed Pale Ale and his favourite pub is the Old Court House in Jersey.
Tim Lewis
Investor Director, Liberation Group
Tim joined Caledonia in 2011 after spending nine years with PwC in its audit and corporate finance divisions. His investments have included Park Holidays, Bowers & Wilkins, The Liberation Group and Stonehage Fleming. Tim currently sits on the boards of The Liberation Group and Stonehage Fleming.
Theo Tizard
Investor Director, Liberation Group
Theo joined Caledonia in 2017. He previously worked as an Associate within Houlihan Lokey’s corporate finance division, and in PwC’s transaction services department. His favourite beer is Bohemia Craft Lager.
Alex Langlands Pearse
Non-Executive Board Director, Liberation Group
Langy has over 34 years experience in hospitality, having most recently co-founded Cirrus Inns. His past experiences include first hand experience in operational roles for establishments such as the Groucho Club and as a publican in pubs such as The Punchbowl in Mayfair. He’s passionate about the British countryside and supporting local, seasonal suppliers and producers. He joined the Board of Liberation in 2022.
Marc Mcguigan
Group Managing Director Brewing & Distribution, Liberation Group
Marc joined Liberation Group as Managing Director of Butcombe Brewery & Distribution in July 2019 and was then promoted to Group Managing Director of Liberation Group Brewing and Distribution Business a year later. Marc has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry in operational roles having started his career in finance. The first hospitality role was with Whitbread and once in the industry Marc quickly moved into operations as a trainee Area Manager. After leaving Whitbread Marc joined Greene King and held various senior roles leading teams in the Pub, Hotel & Restaurant sides of the business. Having worked for big companies the opportunity to work for the Liberation Group and help build a great business was too good an opportunity to miss. His favourite beer is Goram IPA but when in Jersey he is also a big fan of Liberation IPA.
Jayson Perfect
Group Managing Director Pubs & Inns, Liberation Group
Jayson joined the Liberation Group in 2017 as Managing Director. He was appointed to Group Managing Director in 2020 and is responsible for the estate of 126 tenanted and managed pubs across the UK, Jersey and Guernsey. Jayson was previously tenanted trade director at Palmers brewery for five years and prior to this spent 14 years at Fuller, Smith and Turner in the managed house division. Originally from South Africa, Jayson has over 23 years of hospitality experience in restaurants, pubs and breweries from single site management to directorship. His favourite beers are Longboard Lager and Stateside IPA.
