Greene King apologises for founder's links to slavery

The boss of Bury St Edmunds pubs giant Greene King has said it was 'inexcusable' that its founder profited from the slave trade.

It follows a Daily Telegraph report that the brewery's founder Benjamin Greene was one of 47,000 people who benefited from the UK Government's decision to compensate Britons when slavery was abolished in 1833.

Greene received nearly £500,000 in today's money when he surrendered rights to three plantations in the West Indies.

The newspaper said details of the sums are set out in a database held by University College London (UCL).

Nick Mackenzie, Greene King's chief executive, told the paper: "It is inexcusable that one of our founders profited from slavery and argued against its abolition in the 1800s.

"We don’t have all the answers, so that is why we are taking time to listen and learn from all the voices, including our team members and charity partners, as we strengthen our diversity and inclusion work."

He said Greene King would make a 'substantial investment to benefit the BAME community and support our race diversity in the business as we increase our focus on targeted work in this area'.