Gerry’s Big Decision

Two award-winning real ale breweries are facing closure. Both are small businesses, employing a handful of staff, supplying mostly local pubs. One of them has already broken through to the supermarket shelves. Enter Sir Gerry Robinson, a white knight of the business world. The former business leader will invest his own money in these companies if he considers them worth saving because, as he says, in this recession, “even good companies are going to the wall”.

This is the set-up in this latest fly-on-the-workplace-wall documentary from Channel 4. Kind of like Dragon’s Den, except Robinson is not looking for a catchy product – in both cases the beer has already proved its worth. He’s looking for the right group of people to make the business work. “And I am prepared to offer a life-line to those who can up their game,” he says.