Cheers! Loan helps brewer

Managing director Steven Beech said: “We reached a point where demand was outstripping supply and we needed to act and expand the enterprise. The funding package from SYIF has enabled us to multiply our productivity and invest in more commercial areas of the business.

“The first tier of investment was purely to expand the brewing plant and the cask fleet meaning we can supply to our customers on a much larger scale. The second tier has been the updating of our technology so we now have more hardware and a more modernised way of organising our operations.”

The brewery, which has been operating since 1999 on its 200 year old Power House Gun Park site, can now produce 30 barrels of beer a day and has created two new jobs after installing new computer hardware and bespoke sales system.

Part of the SYIF loan has been used to finance an advertising campaign for Bumble Beer, a cask ale including local honey, which, Wentworth Brewery says, gives it a subtly different taste at four separate times between spring and autumn, depending on the flowers the bees are feeding on.

“The expansion is ongoing and with this step up we’re in a position to maximise the positive impact our growth has on our clients and it paves the way for further growth in the future when hopefully demand will once again bring change,” added Steven Beech.

Wentworth Brewery was introduced to SYIF by Barber Harrison & Platt. BHP partner and Wentworth Brewery lead adviser John Warner, who is also on the board of directors at SYIF, has been appointed a mentor to the brewery as part of SYIF’s Mentorbank facility.