Brewery aims to roll out more barrels

The Ilkley Brewery was founded in January 2009 by Chris Ives and Stewart Ross, who both had previous roles in commercial property. But their lack of brewery experience has been a help not a hindrance, said Mr Ives.

The firm has doubled its output in the last nine months, and looks set to increase it further as a fifth fermenter is due to arrive next week.

Mr Ives told the Yorkshire Post: “We currently brew 80 brewers’ barrels (BBL) [39-gallon containers] per week, that is 23,040 pints.

“We will increase this to 110 BBL by end of October, an increase of 37.5 per cent. If we then buy a 60BBL fermenter in early 2012 we can increase output to 170BBL’s per week, a further increase of 54.5 per cent – to give a total of 49,045 pints per week.”

Mr Ives added: “We will need to make a decision as to whether to take a second site, whether we move or try to expand where we are.”

The company’s turnover was £340,000 last year and it is estimated it should hit £750,000 by December 31 this year. The forecast is for it to double again for 2012, said Mr Ives.

He said: “Because we are investing heavily, we are unlikely to make a profit this year. I think our forecast puts us at around £100,000 of pre-tax profits if we hit our turnover projection of £750,000.”

Meanwhile, the company, which now has eight full-time members of staff and plans to recruit two more by the end of next year, also hopes to begin exporting in the new year. Mr Ives said: “We are looking closely at Canada. There’s a strong preference for drinking beer in Canada and also a strong ex-pat community.”

The firm also has its sights set on Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia.

Mr Ives said: “We have pitched to a couple of importers and we are waiting to hear.”

But Mr Ives stressed that although the growth plan is for continued expansion, this must happen “without tripping up on ourselves”.

He said: “One of the dangers with fast growth is that a business would accept every order and then realise belatedly it can’t meet the customer’s expectations. First and foremost it’s about servicing the customers with the best products.”

The firm’s growth comes as The Cask Report 2011-12, by beer writer Pete Brown, reported on cask ale’s growing appeal to a new audience of younger, affluent and sociable drinkers. The report showed cask is continuing to outperform the UK beer market and now has a 15 per cent share.

Mr Ives said the increasing popularity of real ale has helped the business perform well, but added: “You still need to have a good product.” Mr Ives said the fact that he and Mr Ross don’t have a background in brewing means their approach is different from their competitors.

Talking to customers and consumers and getting feedback is vitally important to them, he said, adding: “We don’t want to create beers that are clones of other breweries. We want to create beers that are different and interesting and capture people’s imagination.

“Because we don’t come from a brewing background we probably break lots of rules, but that works.”

Mr Ives also highlighted the challenges faced by SMEs, as he explained: “If you want to grow quickly the only way to do that is to borrow or go to venture capitalists to look to sell a slice of the business and bring in equity and debt. We went to the bank and they weren’t interested in talking to us. Even though we could prove we were successful we just could not get the door open.”

The Government needs to “properly” intervene to get loans or grants to small businesses, said Mr Ives, adding: “It’s the SMEs between £500,000 and £3m turnover that are suffering the most. They don’t have the sufficient capital to grow without borrowing. They talk about small businesses being the backbone of the economy but there’s no support.”

Raising a glass

With an initial investment of £70,000, Chris Ives and Stewart Ross bought an eight-barrel brew plant in spring 2009 and moved into their first premises in East Parade, Ilkley, where they had the capacity to brew 4,600 pints a week.

Nine months after the company was founded, the brewery turned over £43,000 and a year later, in December 2010, it turned over £294,000 with pre-tax profits of £46,000.

Richard Shelton joined the business in 2009 and later became its third director. In January this year, the pair secured a debt and equity package from Glentrool Capital Partners LLP, enabling The Ilkley Brewery to move to its current premises in Ashlands Road.