Greater London, England, United Kingdom, March 2026 — SSP UK & Ireland has welcomed David Beardmore to its UK & Ireland Executive Leadership team as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). In this role, he will lead the end-to-end customer journey across SSP’s own, concept and franchise brands, strengthening commercial strategy and customer experience across the group’s travel hospitality network.
As Chief Commercial Officer, David Beardmore will focus on connecting customer insight with commercial execution, supporting SSP’s growth across airports, rail stations and motorway service areas. His appointment reflects SSP’s continued emphasis on brand performance, customer-led proposition development, and consistent delivery across a diverse portfolio.
Before joining SSP UK & Ireland, David Beardmore spent more than 15 years with Tesco, holding senior commercial leadership roles across the UK and international markets. Most recently, he served as Impulse Director, Tesco UK, where he led category and commercial priorities across impulse missions and customer propositions.
Earlier at Tesco, he served as Grocery Director, strengthening experience across large-scale retail category leadership and commercial performance. Before that, he spent nearly a decade with Tesco Lotus in Thailand as Packaged Food, BWS & Tesco Brand Director, building deep exposure to multi-category leadership, packaged food strategy, brand development, and customer behaviour-focused execution.
During his time in Tesco, he held key leadership roles including impulse and category-focused positions. In 2017, he was awarded Business Initiative of the Year at the Grocer Gold Awards for work linked to changing consumer behaviour and removing 2 billion calories from the soft drinks category in the UK, and he also received the IGD Health and Wellness Award for changing the soft drinks landscape in the same year.
Prior to Tesco, he served as Business Unit Director – Tesco at Premier Foods, strengthening customer and retail partnership leadership experience. Earlier, he worked at SC Johnson as Global Customer Director / Country Manager Ireland, and before that served as Customer Director at Unilever, building long-term expertise across customer leadership, commercial strategy, and consumer goods environments.
About SSP UK & Ireland
SSP UK & Ireland is a leading operator of restaurants, bars, cafes, food courts and retail stores in airports, train stations and motorway service areas. Across the UK and Ireland, the company operates more than 30 brands across approximately 200 locations.
Its portfolio includes franchise brands such as M&S Simply Food, Starbucks and Burger King, alongside SSP-owned brands such as Millie’s Cookies, Upper Crust and Ritazza, and bespoke concepts including Urban Express at London Bridge station and The Camden at London Stansted Airport.
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