Truman's asks Londoners to find new brewery site

31-Jan-2012 - Last updated on 31-Jan-2012 at 10:03 GMT

East London beer brand Truman’s is asking the capital’s ale drinkers to help find a site for its new brewery.

A year’s supply of beer – 500 bottles of Truman’s Runner ale – is on offer to the person that finds the eventual site.

A 12-bottle case of Runner will be given to anyone that sends in details of a site of real interest and all of those that enter will be invited to the opening party at the new brewery.

Truman’s was brewed in East London for more than 300 years, most recently at the Black Eagle Brewery in Brick Lane, where production stopped in 1989. Following its re-founding in 2010, Truman’s has been brewed under licence.

James Morgan, who re-founded the company alongside Michael-George Hemus in 2010, commented: “We’ve been looking very hard for a site over the last year and despite a few near misses, we’re still looking.”

“But East London is a big place and not every potential site is currently on the market. As such, we thought it would be wise to ‘crowdsource’ our search and tap into the local knowledge of East Londoners.”

Michael-George added: “We do have a bid with the Olympic Legacy Committee to take over a part of the Olympic site after the games.

"A number of potential developers have expressed an interest, but we are talking 2013 before we even get a spade in the ground. And we are determined to be brewing Truman’s back in London by the end of 2012.”

Potential sites must be: commercial premises; in east London (boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forrest or Newham); between 6,000-8,000 square feet; have good access; and part of the site must be convertible to ‘double height’.