Ale’s well that ends well Stolen kegs recovered

A family-run brewery is hopping with joy after 43 stolen kegs were stopped by police moments before being shipped to Europe. Arundel Brewery was targeted on April 1 when 43 kegs, worth more than £2,000 in total, were stolen from the brewery at Ford Airfield Industrial Estate. A lorry was reportedly stopped in Folkstonelast week.

After the brewery took to social media to appeal for help, support from the beer community poured in with many trying their hand at tracking down the stolen goods themselves.

Owner Stuart Walker said: “It was tracked down due to a combination of Sussex and Kent Police and most importantly, Keg Watch. “They said they were going to be exported and they got Kent Police to x-ray the lorry and the kegs were in there, surrounded by furniture.

“It was a real drag for us to lose the kegs but we thought it might just be a local crime. We would have had to have spent several thousand pounds in the next week or so to complete beer orders – so the timing was really great for us.”

Thanking their Facebook followers and both police force’s for their support, Stuart said: “Thanks to the incredible work of

Keg Watch, Sussex Police, Kent Police and all of you incredible people who shared our post and gave us information we are delighted to have recovered the kegs that were stolen from the brewery earlier this month.

“They were recovered at Folkestone where they were going to be illegally exported out of the country.

“As an independent, family business that has been closed for most of the last year, it was far from ideal for us to lose them and we are overjoyed to have them back. We are enormously appreciative to everyone who helped spread the word, it just goes to show that social media can sometimes achieve incredible things.”

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