Council grant is vital ingredient in micro-brewery success

A micro-brewery and a farmers' market are among a wide variety of firms set to share almost half a million pounds of growth funding from Warwickshire County Council.

The council has so far awarded grants to 21 firms following last October's announcement of £1 million available to small businesses over three years.

The grants, worth £5,000 to £35,000, are going to small businesses for capital assets such as buildings or plant, machinery and equipment.

Projects funded include Church Farm Brewery, Budbrooke which has been awarded £25,000 (with match funding of £100,000 from the business) to purchase and install a twenty-barrel brewing plant.

The former dairy farm set up the microbrewery in 2012 as a diversification business, using converted milk processing and holding vessels to brew its beer. Since then, the business has gone from strength to strength producing a range of hand crafted ales using only the finest local ingredients.

However, progress was being hampered by brewing equipment which needed updating.

Sam Brown, Master Brewer of Church Farm Brewery, said:

“To continue to grow, we needed a custom brewery installation with the capacity to deliver increasing demand over the next five years. Thanks to the grant from Warwickshire County Council, we’ve been able to buy and instal new equipment which will increase our brewing capacity from 140 to 400 barrels per week, as well as accommodate a planned expansion.

“The quality of our beers has been the foundation to our success from the start. Our customers value the consistency of our product and the fact that we use local suppliers where possible for our high quality, sustainable ingredients.

"Now we’ll be able to make greater capital out of the current trend for Artisan beers as we’ll be able to create more varieties of beer which will give us greater reach in terms of target markets.

"We have lots of plans for the future which we can now realise, including exportation to Europe and Scandinavia where there is a huge demand for craft beers.”

Another business to benefit from a county council grant is Stoneleigh-based Rugby Farmers Mart which was founded in 2006 to replace the livestock market in Rugby, and started trading two years later at Stoneleigh Park.

Rugby Farmers Mart has been awarded £27,708 (with match funding of £41,562 from the business) for new sheep-pens and a walkway and the money has had an immediate impact, increasing the firm’s ability to serve local customers and attract business to Warwickshire from across the country.

“The grant has been very useful,” said head auctioneer Tom Wrench. “The first phase is already in place and giving us greater capacity which is very important because, while we have a strong local customer-base, we also have buyers and sellers coming from as far afield as Essex, Kent and north Yorkshire.

“The grant has also enabled us to take on an apprentice – a trainee auctioneer.”

The council funding is designed to help businesses access capital investment that will help them diversify or modernise their operations, leading to increased turnover and job creation or protection. The grant can be up to 40% of the total costs.

The funding has been directed towards small enterprises (fewer than 50 employees) primarily in the following sectors identified as key growth areas for the local economy:

• manufacturing/ advanced engineering
• automotive
• intelligent transport systems
• IT services/ digital media and creative industries
• low carbon technologies
• business and professional services
• tourism

For more information and to check the potential eligibility of a project please visit: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/businessgrants or contact Warwickshire County Council’s Economy and Skills Group on Tel: 01926 412709.