Steve Goodyear to retire from Young's board

Steve Goodyear, who has served as non-executive chairman of Young’s since July 2017, will stand down from the role and retire from the board next year.

Goodyear was chief executive of Young’s from 2003 to 2016 and first joined the company in 1995. Prior to that, he had worked in senior positions across the industry for over 20 years.

Goodyear will be succeeded as non-executive chairman by Steve Cooke following the company’s Annual General Meeting in July 2024.

Cooke is currently the senior partner at law firm Slaughter and May and headed its mergers and acquisitions practice across consumer, leisure, media and retail from 2001 until 2016.

He will join Young’s as a non-executive director on 1 November 2023 and is set to retire from Slaughter and May on 30 April 2024.

Goodyear said: “Steve Cooke is an exceptional corporate lawyer with an excellent reputation who has risen to senior partner at one of the most admired law firms in the world. He will bring a strong and valuable external perspective to the board.”

Young’s currently has a portfolio of more than 200 pubs.