Portsmouth brewery apologises after sacking employee over 'past actions' and cancelling event

Staggeringly Good Brewery’s leadership team took to social media after concerns were raised about their employee.

The brewery, based at St Georges Industrial Estate, Rodney Road, Southsea, announced it had cancelled its International Women's Day event until next year following the fallout over its now former member of staff.

Owners of the firm said they were issuing an update regarding the “past actions of a member of our staff” that had left some people feeling uneasy.

The Facebook post said: “This is new territory for us as business owners and we have a duty of care to all our staff, the majority of whom are women, as well as to our customers and community.

“We have spent the last few days investigating what happened, getting advice on our legal responsibilities and reviewing our policies and practices to ensure we respond and act appropriately now and in the future. For the sake of transparency I am sharing an update on the actions we have taken in the immediate and our plan of action moving forward.

“The staff member in question no longer works for Staggeringly Good and we have taken back control of our social media accounts.”

The post went on to say they were speaking with staff to ensure they “feel heard and supported in this moment”. The leadership team said they were now “expanding our hiring and onboarding practices to ensure they are even more robust” and were reviewing “our internal management and safeguarding policies to provide staff and customers a clear process of escalating any concerns”.

Referring to the women’s day event, the post said: “Regarding the event itself - an event designed to recognise and celebrate local women-led businesses and talent - we’ve decided to cancel and regroup with our team with a goal of organising something bigger and better next year.

“The brewery will be open as usual and to ensure none of the charities or performers lose out.”

The ‘Woman Inherits The Earth’ beer brewed for the event in collaboration with local women within the craft beer community, will be on sale throughout the month of March. All proceeds will go to local women's charities.

Staggeringly Good also said all musicians who were due to perform will be compensated in full.

The owners added: “We are sorry that this has happened and that there are members of our beloved community feeling anything other than safe and welcome in our space. We will do better. We love our community, we love Portsmouth and we love beer.”

The post divided opinions with some applauding the company for its actions while others thought the situation should have been dealt with before.