POTENTIAL

What is billed as “the UK’S only dedicated gluten-free microbrewery” has hit its sixfigure fund-raising target as it embarks on an expansion drive.

Bellfield Brewery, which was launched in Edinburgh in March 2016, said its £430,000 investment had been led by the angel syndicate Equity Gap and was supported by the Scottish Investment Bank and existing shareholders, many of whom supported the venture’s original Crowdcube funding two years ago.

The brewery now plans to create a number of jobs, allowing the existing operational team to commit on a full-time basis. The first senior appointment will be a sales manager to develop the craft brewery’s UK sales in both the on and off trade. It will also invest in taking new products and formats to market.

The fund raise was supported by Rod Mathers, corporate finance partner, and his team at Henderson Loggie Chartered Accountants and Jo Nisbet, associate, and the corporate team at legal firm Harper Macleod. Unlike most other

0 Anna Orr, marketing manager, and Kieran Middleton, brewer, Bellfield

DIRECTOR MARIE BROWN breweries now producing gluten-free beers, Bellfield does not “de-glutenise” its product using enzymes. Instead, it has optimised its brewing process andrecipestoproduceglutenfree beer naturally.

The brewery has bagged several key contract wins as the “free-from” food and drink sector continues to expand.

Director Marie Brown said: “We already know from our first year in business that there is considerable demand for our products in the UK and beyond. We’ve already delivered on our ambition to produce beer that stands up to anything in the market and we’ve secured listings with many of the leading food and drink distributors and wholesalers in the UK.

“We will now invest to grow our sales and operational team to build on the opportunity and grow our range of beers.”

Speaking on behalf of Equity Gap, which co-ordinated the private investors, Jock Millican said: “We are very pleased to support Bellfield Brewery

“We already know from our first year in business that there is considerable demand for our products in the UK and beyond”