A Tadcaster councillor who had many meetings with the owner of Samuel Smiths says his habit of shunning publicity and the media probably didn’t help his reputation.
Kirsty Poskitt, whose grandad was a cooper at the brewery, said she found Humphrey Smith, who died this week, kind, fascinating, inquisitive and respectful.
Others were not so impressed, particularly some of the tenants in the pubs who fell foul of the rules.
Cllr Poskitt thinks that everything that Mr Smith did, or planned to do, for Tadcaster, was what he thought was the very best for the town.
But because he never explained himself he ended up with a reputation which wasn’t always fair.
