Investment at brewery to increase production

LEEDSD-BASED Northern Monk is making a £500,000 investment in new equipment and its brewery site in changes that will allow it to make more than one million extra pints a year.

The 20 per cent increase in capacity will be the equivalent to an additional 8,000 hectolitres (HL), or 1.4 million pints, of beer per year.

Last year, Leeds-based Northern Monk brewed around seven million pints from two brewing sites, Sydenham Road in Holbeck, and their original home, The Old Flax Store, just south of Leeds city centre.

Russell Bisset, who Co-founded Northern Monk alongside head brewer Brian Dickson, said the expansion represents an exciting moment for the company.

“After ten years of brewing, we’re entering a really exciting new era for Northern Monk,” he said.

“The increase in capacity represents a really positive period for us as we continue to attract new customers enjoying our beers, like Faith, in their local, to picking up a few cans from the supermarkets, to our innovative special releases in independent bottle shops, which are enjoyed by beer lovers who have followed our journey since the start.

“Due to this growth, we were pushing the limit of what our current site could handle and so this felt like the right time to make a significant investment in our facilities.

“It’s been a challenging few years for the industry as a whole with Covid, rising bills, political uncertainty and supply challenges acutely felt by the sector.

“We’re deeply grateful to our consumers and customers for their continued support which has allowed us to continue to grow as a company.”

In the last 12 months, half of the ten best performing new craft beers in supermarkets were brewed by Northern Monk.