After nearly 30 years of detachment in the hands of a succession of owners, Hartlepool's Camerons Brewery is keen to stress its newly found stability and local links. TONY HALSTEAD reports
Camerons Brewery is on a charm offensive in its native north-east. The 140-year-old family brewer wants to strengthen its links with its home town of Hartlepool.
If that sounds a slightly odd strategy for a company that has been part of the local scenery since 1865, brewery bosses admit that they have a bit of making up to do.
But if Camerons and Hartlepool never exactly fell out, relations between the two have suffered ever since the founding family sold out to new owners in 1975. There followed 27 years of uncertainty for the company through a succession of different operators that saw Camerons' 750-pub empire dismantled and question marks raised about the very future of the brewery itself.
It was only when Sunderland millionaire David Soley, owner of the nearby Castle Eden Brewery, bought the plant in 2002 that Camerons was able to look to the future with confidence. Three years later the bridges are still being built and marketing director Mike Berriman ad-mits there is still some way to go before the brewery can claim back its place as a local institution.
"We are trying hard to re-kindle our old community roots, but it's not something we can achieve overnight," he says. "The brewery has been through a lot over the past quarter of a century and most of it was not good news. There have been four changes of ownership in that time and we are the fifth set of operators to take charge. But the brewery is now firmly back in family hands and it's providing us with the foundation to move forward."
Only independent in north-east
Berriman reveals that Camerons is now the only independent brewer in the north-east a fact that comes as a surprise to many people.
But he has more reason than most to appreciate how the company has been unexpectedly able to take on the mantle of the region's brewing champion. A beerage veteran who has seen service with two other north-east brewing powerhouses, Vaux and Federation, Berriman knowns only too well how events can take over companies that have been the foundation rocks of the region for years.
"We are left as the sole regional brewer up here, but it gives us an excellent platform on which to move the company forward and we are already upping brewing volumes and extending our pub estate," he explains. But image building requires more than new pubs and extra beer production. And two recent developments have underlined Camerons' commitment to Hartlepool.
The opening of a new subsidiary micro-brewing plant at a cost of £500,000 now enables Camerons to produce the small brewing runs that are vital for servicing a niche, specialist beer market. Special beers are produced regularly to mark local events, like the Bishop of Durham's retirement and the success of the town's soccer club, Hartlepool United.
And last year saw the opening of a £750,000 visitor centre, which provides a multi-use brewing museum, business centre, bistro and pub. Brewery tours now take place twice a day, with plans to increase this to four in the summer, and Berriman wants to link in with other tourist operations in Hartlepool such as the Maritime Museum.
Connecting with the community
"These are both tangible ways in which we are re-establishing our connections with the community," Berriman explains.
"We are pushing Camerons' family ownership at every opportunity but that does not mean we have a blinkered approach to our business," he maintains. "Production is now running at about 300,000 barrels per year, which puts us safely in the top-10 division of UK brewers. The bulk of production comes through free trade and contract brewing deals. We only have a tied estate of 17 pubs."
Chairman David Soley has now been joined in the business by son Chris who abandoned a career in quarrying and engineering to enter the brewing industry. Soley Junior is keen to talk up the family commitment and assure local folk that the current owners are here to stay. He is also keenly aware of what transpired at Camerons through the ownership of such luminaries as the Ellermans Shipping Line, Barclay Brothers, Brent Walker and Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries.
"Family ownership means we are no longer answerable to the city and other external sources," he explains. "We can control our own destiny and do things in our own way and I think this is already reaping benefits."
Importance of contract brewing
But while Camerons is busy pushing its own brands, such as Strongarm, Trophy Special and Castle Eden Ale, contract brewing is a major plank of its production. Brewing of Kronenbourg on licence is a major piece of business for the Lion Brewery, but its modern plan and spacious acreage means it is ideally placed to do more. Overall brewing capacity at Hartlepool is 750,000 barrels and current volumes are half that figure. Senior management know that has to be increased to make Camerons anything like its old self.
Berriman reveals that the company is actively seeking more pubs to recoup lost ground in the retail sector and has a target figure of 200 over the long term. The bulk of its former pubs were purchased by Pubmaster some years ago and are now operated by Punch. The big game plan now is to sell Camerons beers into the locally-based Punch estate and those of other big pubcos wherever possible.
A total of 120 people now work on the Lion Brewery site a far cry from the days when the brewery was Hartlepool's biggest employer. But in a region that is still job-shedding, it represents a sizeable contribution to the local economy.
"We are here as serious contenders," says Berriman. "This is not a short-term mission, because we are determined to restore our old links with the town and make Camerons a focal point of the local community again."