After graduating with a business degree from Bath University School of Management in 1981, Nick moved straight into large retailer buying and marketing with a stint at J Sainsbury’s Grocery Buying until 1985, from there he moved to Boots (Foodcentres) in Nottingham.
By 1987 he’d started buying off licence for Waitrose, the supermarket division of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), and moved into the wine department at the end of the 80’s.
Following the Partnership’s purchase of direct mail wine provider Findlater, Mackie & Todd in February 1993, he spent five years on secondment working at Merton, running the mail order operation, and coordinating the marketing.
Nick returned to Waitrose Buying in 1998, and has subsequently built significant expertise in a number of northern hemisphere wine categories, as well as South America, with extensive experience of Iberian table and fortified wines.
In 1991 he achieved the WSET Diploma and has also received a number of accolades, awards and decorations since, including: the Confraria Port Award (2015); ordained a Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino for dedication and duty to Spanish wine and sherry (2006) and subsequently elected Chairman of the Gran Orden for 10 years (2010 – 2020), a position he will relinquish in March 2020; and notably, in December 2015 was granted the Encomienda de la Orden Civil del Mérito Agrario by the Spanish Ambassador to London, granted by the King of Spain, for his outstanding service to the wine industry of Spain.
In recent years at Waitrose, Nick has been a participant in Industrial Democracy, and was a candidate for Trustee of the JLP Constitution (2015) as well as a bid for Elected Board Director at JLP (2017). He is a Treasurer of two charities, is politically active, and enjoys photography, his garden, current affairs and keeping fit.