Sussex brewer Harveys of Lewes is counting the cost of its disastrous Millennium flood after suffering an 80% hike in insurance premiums over the past two years. The 212-year-old family-owned brewery was extensively damaged by the floods which ravaged the area and stopped beer production for nine days. Two years on, the full insurance claim has still to be settled as the final cost of the devastation at the Bridge Wharf Brewery, which stands on the banks of the River Ouse, is assessed. Managing director Miles Jenner says the company has now carried out a full risk assessment survey of the brewery site in a bid to moderate future premium increases. "Our premiums increased 60% in the first year and a further 20% in year two," revealed Jenner. "We were nearing the end of our three-year insurance period anyway so the premiums were due for review. But it was a big increase and now we are hoping our risk assessment policy will limit the size of further rises. "We are still tying up the full terms of the loss two years on, because it is not just a case of straight replacement in many cases," he explained. The site on which the brewery stands is an official flood-risk area and the brewery suffered an earlier disaster back in 1960. But Jenner said the Environment Agency was carrying out an enormous amount of work to alleviate the risk of further flooding.
