An East Yorkshire micro-brewery is set to expand its range of real ales after it secured £200,000 of Northern Powerhouse support.
Wold Top Brewery, based near Driffield, plans to use the loan from Mercia Debt Finance to launch new beers and develop distribution channels.
The business, launched in 2003 by husband and wife team Tom and Gill Mellor, produces ales based on traditional recipes using home-grown barley and water from the farm’s own borehole.
Tom Mellor said: “Our aim is to become a sustainable business in every sense of the word – from using locally-grown ingredients and minimising our impact on the environment to the way we run the business.
“This funding will provide us with the working capital we need to pursue our plans and continue to grow and develop the business.”
Wold Top Brewery has over the last 16 years developed an award-winning array of ales.
Its products, which include Wold Top Bitter and the gluten-free beer Against the Grain, can be found in bars and independent stores throughout the north and in supermarkets nationwide, with around 20 per cent of products going to export markets.
The brewery also makes the ‘wash’ used to create the county’s first whisky, produced by Tom and Gill’s latest venture, the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery in nearby Hunmanby.
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Wold Top Brewery now employs around 15 people including the couple’s daughter and son-in-law Kate and Alex Balchin.
The Northern Powerhouse funding will allow it to take on two new staff including a full-time sales manager.
Grant Peggie, director at the British Business Bank, said: “Since its launch in 2017, NPIF’s impact on businesses has been wide-ranging, providing funding to launch new products, employ new staff, enter new markets and acquire new facilities.
“We are pleased that NPIF is continuing to unlock the North’s growth potential by supporting small growing businesses with vital investment.”
The family behind Wold Top Brewery has farmed hundreds of acres of land on the Yorkshire Wolds for generations.
As revenue from traditional farming declined, a decision was taken to move into the brewery sector.
Wold Top’s impressive growth has now been backed by a branch of the Northern Powerhouse.
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Ian Atkinson, investment manager with Mercia, said: “Tom and Gill are not only pioneering a more sustainable approach to brewing but also creating high-quality products that build on Yorkshire’s reputation for fine food and drink.
“It is great to be able to support them with their growth plans.”
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