Archives for 2012

Daivd Urquhart pictured with Susan Young editor of The DRAM magazine and members of the Urquhart family

Congratulations to Joint Managing Director of Gordon & MacPhail, David Urquhart, who has been honoured by his industry peers with a lifetime achievement award for his services to the Scottish Licensed Trade.

David was presented with the accolade at the DRAM magazine Scottish Licensed Trade Awards 2012. Established over fifteen years ago, the awards were the first in Scotland to recognise the very best of the Scottish on-trade industry.

David is retiring this autumn, after dedicating 40 years to the work of Gordon & MacPhail, the whisky and licensed trade industry and various local community causes close to his heart, including the Elgin Bid and the Forres bid to host the European Pipe Band Championships.

Daivd Urquhart pictured with Susan Young editor of The DRAM magazine

He has been committed to continuing the work of his ancestors, who have been involved in Gordon & MacPhail since its first year of trading. Established in 1895 as a family run grocers, tea, wine and spirit merchants in Elgin, the company has since grown into one of the UK’s top independent wine and spirits merchants, alongside its others business interests as a bottler and exporter of whiskies from throughout Scotland and a distiller, owning Benromach Distillery in Forres.

Commenting on his award David said: “I’m honoured to receive this award, which was a huge surprise for me. It’s come at a very timely point in my career as I prepare to retire and hand over the work that I have achieved, along with my fathers and grandfathers before me, to the next generation coming through in the business.

“I’m confident I’ll be leaving my role in more than capable hands, and locally I hope to keep busy with the many community initiatives Elgin and Forres are involved in.”

Susan Young, Editor of the DRAM added: “David Urquhart has spent the last 40 years serving the Scottish licensed trade, and helping to grow his family company, Gordon & MacPhail. His passion, commitment, determination, and above all, his integrity made David a very worthy recipient of the DRAM Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Benromach, the distillery owned by Gordon & MacPhail, was also sponsors of a special DRAM award – the Benromach Award for Success.

The judges in this category were looking for a business that had successfully grown and developed particularly over the last year – whether by growing their turnover or by further developing their business in other ways. Nominees were asked to share the secret of their success.

The gold medal and the title of Benromach Award for Success went to SimpsInns, followed by Omni Taverns (silver medal) and Fort Hotel (bronze medal)