Northern Monk eyes venues in London and Manchester with huge crowdfunding initiative

23-Feb-2018 - Last updated on 23-Feb-2018 at 09:18 GMT

Restoration success: Northern Monk took on The Old Flax Store in 2014, and has turned it into a thriving taproom

Leeds-based Northern Monk Brew Co is seeking to raise over £500,000 through fundraising, as it seeks to triple its brewing capacity and open additional taproom sites.

The brewery, founded in 2013 with an initial budget of just £5,000, is hoping to persuade members of the public to invest in the brewery to take it to the next level.

The £500,000 target has been set to enable the brewery to triple its production capacity as well as adding a new packaging line and expanding its wild beer and barrel-ageing programme.

Second taproom site

If it exceeds this target, the brewery will open a second taproom site (it currently hosts events at The Old Flax Store in Leeds), with Manchester or London the preferred location.

Northern Monk currently employs 30 members of staff and has sold beer in 22 different countries, including USA, New Zealand and Japan. Production looks set to exceed 3m pints in 2018, and the brewery has been at capacity since its launch.

Speaking about the crowdfunding initiative, dubbed ‘Northern Rising’, Northern Monk owner Russell Bisset said: “In 2013, we set out to make some of the best beer in the world with just £5,000. In 2014, we launched our own brewery.

“In the four years since, we've been rated as one of the world's top 100 breweries, we’ve sold beer to 22 countries across the world and we’re hoping to turn over £4m by the end of this financial year. It’s been a wild four years. This is your chance to join us for the rest of it.”

10% equity offered

The first round of investment launches on 26 February 2018, with the brewery offering up to a maximum of 10% equity in the company in return for funding.

Last year, Bisset told The Morning Advertiser that the price point of cask beer is too low and is driving breweries into other forms of packaging.

Bisset went on to say that his brewery was now only producing "a very, very small amount" of beer in cask due to the price it commands in the UK marketplace.