Woodforde's brewery: no bar to growth

All too regularly one hears of a pub being converted into flats or a house, or simply demolished altogether by a property developer.

The practice, while often economically justified by the building's owner, has become a major bugbear for many, especially those living in rural areas who see what is sometimes the 'only watering hole in the village' turned into a holiday home for outsiders who count themselves as locals yet only visit during half-term week and a couple of times during the lengthy summer school holidays.

So it is rather satisfying - not to mention about as rare as a vegetarian fox in a barn full of hens - to come across precisely the opposite scenario, namely where a dwelling has been converted into a pub.

But that is precisely what East Anglian brewer Woodforde's - which produces award winning ales including Wherry, Headcracker and Nelson's Revenge - did to a couple of derelict cottages that sat next door to the brewery, located in the village of Woodbastwick, on the Norfolk Broads. The resulting pub, the Fur & Feather, is a great shop window for brands from the brewery, which has been housed in a group of former farm buildings on the edge of the village for the past 20 years. Woodforde's other pub is the Swan Inn in Ingham, near the county's north east coast.

With brands such as Admiral's Reserve and Mardler's Mild one could be forgiven for thinking Woodforde's had a heritage stretching back centuries, but the brewery was in fact founded fewer than 30 years ago by two local beer enthusiasts Ray Ashworth and David Crease.

For the last decade it has been owned by David Nudd, a local businessman, and Mike Betts, who had originally joined the business as marketing director.

Ambition

The pair's ambitions for the group's output were amply signalled in recent years by the creation of a spanking new brewery, an investment in the region of £1.5m which has helped double production capacity to around 17,000 barrels a year.

Then came the hiring in December last year of Neil

Bain as head brewer. Bain arrived from the Highgate Brewery in Walsall, West Midlands, where he was director of brewing. His dogged enthusiasm to maintain the quality of the ales he and his team of brewers produces is clearly evident.

That Woodforde's punches above its weight in terms of recognition for its beers is not lost on Mike Betts.

"We're only one of five brewers to win Supreme Beer Champion twice," he says proudly.

For Woodforde's, as with all brewers worth their salt, the quality of raw materials is key, he says. "We use Norfolk-grown barley. The best malting barley in the world is produced around here. It's expensive, but if you want the best you've got to be prepared to pay for it."

Malt prices have doubled in the last two years, notes head brewer Bain, while the hops Woodforde's uses - a fuggle cross from Slovenia - have also doubled in price.

Water for brewing is drawn from two boreholes near the brewery buildings, and energy-recovery techniques enable the brewing process to be as environmentally-friendly as possible.

Woodforde's operates two production lines, an older 30-barrel operation - a "state of the ark" line, says Bain - and the newer 60-barrel Briggs production facility.

"The newer kit offers us more consistency," says Bain, "but the older line is more flexible for smaller brews."

Wherry, Woodforde's 3.8 per cent bitter, takes up around 70 per cent of production, while other brews include one brewed for Marks & Spencer, called Norfolk Bitter.

Performance

Times are as tough for Woodforde's as for any other operator, but like-for-like volumes are up eight per cent in the first three months of the current financial year. There has been some margin erosion, says Nudd, thanks to rising costs and those duty increases, but listings across Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns' pubs have helped establish loyalties for its beers beyond its own neck of the woods.

The word is additionally spread through special discounts offered to the 14,000 members of the Woodforde's Club, while a three-and-a-half-month-long ale trail, kicking off next month, sees nearly 400 East Anglian pubs participating in stocking Woodforde's beers.

The success of the brewer's ales - given the relatively small size of its operation - and the ambitions of its owners suggest there is a lot more to come from this corner of East England.