Hawkshead to expand ‘significantly’ with Halewood funding

The small Lake District firm will build a new brewery, expand production and see its craft beers gain new routes to market, as a result of the capital.

Former BBC foreign correspondent Alex Brodie, who founded the brewery in 2006, would not say how much the deal for the £2.5m turnover business was worth.

Brodie also refused to specify how much bigger the brewery, which currently has a capacity of 10,000-hectolitres, would become.

‘We are at capacity’​

He told The Morning Advertiser​: “We are at capacity and, therefore, we faced the decision to either stop where we are or to crack on and find investment.

“We don’t know how big the brewery will be, but we are in negotiations with the landlord to release more land.

“I don’t have an idea of what’s going to happen. We are not doing this to put on an extra 20% a year; this is going to be a significant increase in the size of the brewery.”

He added the business had so far been funded and grown organically and this would be the first time any significant investment had been sought.

Of the funding, he said: “We have had a long negotiation and I believe that this deal gives Hawkshead a way of getting significant investment without being absorbed into ‘big beer’. Halewood sees small, craft and premium as the future.”

First steps into UK brewing​

Brodie will remain the managing director of the brewery and his existing team will carry on running it as a stand-alone business, which will also see Halewood take its first steps into the UK brewing industry.

Halewood chief executive officer Stewart Hainsworth said: “Hawkshead Brewery will continue to operate independently of the Halewood Group, under Alex’s leadership, with Halewood as its main distributor and investor.

“Hawkshead brews great beers. We are delighted to help them carry on doing what they are so passionate about.”

Last year, Hawkshead released its first canned beers​ with the launch of its 7% ABV IPA and the 3.5% New Zealand Pale Ale.