Brewers raising glass to success
Hopes for a profitable summer
THERE IS cautious optimism among Calderdale’s independent breweries that better times are around the corner.
Breweries, like other hospitality businesses, have had a tough time trying to survive during the coronavirus pandemic, with lockdowns forcing them to close their premises.
But with society beginning to return to normality ahead of what could be a busy summer, breweries across Calderdale are hoping to make up for lost time.
Sam Davidson, from The Halifax Steam Brewery and Cock o’The North brewery tap in Hipperholme, said: “It’s been very hard during the lockdowns, you’re losing a lot of money and you’re touch and go whether or not your business survives. Hopefully Covid keeps decreasing and things get back to normal. If it wasn’t for the support of our wonderful customers over this difficult period, things could have been much bleaker, so I can’t thank them enough. It’s good days and bad days at the moment, we had some really good weather for two weeks, so can’t complain, but then on other days we’ve been empty when it’s been raining. We’ve been completely shut from November 4 until April 12 so we’ve got debts to pay and I’m hoping for a very good summer. The most important thing is people looking after each other, staying safe, and we’ve got to fight this virus and make sure it stays away for good. We can’t run before we can walk, it’s got to be a slow process.”
Chris Milton, from the Eagles Crag Brewery in Todmorden, said: “It’s been a major struggle because the only beer we’ve really been selling is bottled beer, which is of a lot less value. Our main product is cask ale, so because the pubs have been closed we’ve been selling very little. We’ve been selling a bit but mainly for home delivery, nowhere near the volume we would normally sell to pubs. The bottles have kept us going. We’ve sold them to various shops but we’ve also had our bottle shop open and had really good support from some of our regular customers who come to the brewery on a Friday afternoon and buy bottles, that’s kept us going really. We’re starting to sell cask beer again but everybody’s very tentative. Once you’ve opened cask beer it doesn’t keep forever, so most pubs have been buying kegs, but we do very little of that. Our sales are not what they were a year ago but they’re creeping up so we’re optimistic about May, probably June. A lot of pubs have guest beer. We do have regular customers who have our beer on all the time, but we deal a lot with the guest market. A lot of pubs have reduced the number of guest pumps so all the small breweries are fighting over getting their beer onto those guest pumps. We think it’ll improve towards the end of May but I think the real improvement’s going to be at the end of June.”
We’re hoping everyone will be dying to go to the pub again and see their friends, and we’ll get some normality back in life
Ryan Truswell, brewery manager at Elland Brewery, said: “We did our first brew last week, our first one since November, so we’re all quite excited and fingers crossed, the road is going back to normal. It’s not been easy, we’ve all been on furlough. We’ve been doing a small amount of sales of bottles to local shops and customers which we’ve been hugely grateful for, and kept us ticking over.
We’ve had customers that have been supporting us through all three lockdowns and we’ve always been looking forward to the day we can get cracking again. From May 17 onwards we’ll be back full time.
“We’re hoping everyone will be dying to go to the pub again and see their friends, and we’ll get some normality back in life. Every brewery I’ve spoken to, their loyal customer base has been buying direct from them, and it’ll be great to see those people back in the pub again. It’s a bit of an unknown but we’re feeling positive.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK Which Calderdale brewery is your favourite?
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