by John Harrington
Suffolk brewer Adnams has appointed a German brewhouse manufacturer as part of a £3.8m plan to modernise its brewery.
Huppmann which has worked at 70 breweries across the world, including Heineken, Carlsberg, Guinness and Kro-nenbourg has been hired to make the Southwold brewery 'the most modern, energy efficient brewery in the UK.
For example, the new system would re-use the steam from the boiling process to heat the beer. At the moment, stream is simply released into the atmosphere.
Work on the brewery is expected to take two years to complete.
'We are working with extrem-ely old equipment at the moment and this latest investment will be the final major project to complete our modernisation pro- gramme, said Adnams head brewer Mike Powell-Evans.
Powell-Evans said the old and new equipment would be used together for a short time, 'to ensure exact taste matching. 'We have every confidence that we can reproduce our current range of beers and will have greater flexibility to adapt to any future changes in the market place.
Adnams managing director Jonathan Adnams said: 'We have visited many breweries across Europe during the last three years researching this project.
'This is the first major step in the development of the brewery and will result in Adnams having the most modern brewing facilities in Europe. Huppmann will deliver cutting-edge technology and has a proven track record throughout the world.
Huppmann will work alongside a number of local com- panies, such as Duncans of Southwold, which will fit the equipment and alter the brewery building.
Jonathan Adnams added: 'It is a major investment for Adnams, which reinforces our commitment to Southwold.
Publication: Morning Advertiser
Section: City
Layout name:
Due date: 28/07/2005
Page No: 10
Brakspear says Act
is a 'massive' strain
The new Licensing Act is taking up massive amounts of man-agement time, according to Henley-on-Thames-based re-tailer Brakspear.
The company said that around 50% of business development managers' operational time at Brakspear has been spent working on licence applications for the past three months.
Chief executive Don Bridgman said the Act had taken up a 'great deal of management time since February.
'In retrospect a piece of primary legislation that would have allowed an extension of a couple of hours would have sufficed, he said.
'It was also silly to allow every local authority draw up its own licensing policy.
'To be fair, local authorities in our area are being more helpful, but we are having to deal with the demands of dozens of different fire officers.
Bridgman comments came as the company unveiled operating profit up 4.5% to £2.3m in the first half-year to 30 June.