A prominent independent brewery in Newcastle has been acquired out of administration, saving up to 10 jobs.
Tyne Bank Brewery collapsed earlier this year, having reportedly run in to difficulties brought on by the pandemic. Now Olly Bennett and Matt Daniels - directors of the Inn Hospitality Group - have acquired the business via a separate company called Project Barrel Ltd. The move will bring an end of the taproom opening at the brewery's Walker Road site.
Speaking to BusinessLive, Mr Bennett - who had previously been a customer of Tyne Bank with his events and festival business - said he had been approached by administrators to take over the company, which is based in a 13,000 sqft former pottery warehouse in Byker. The hospitality businessman said the scale of the venue meant dedicated events were needed to make it worthwhile opening.
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He said: "It does seem like a natural fit because we will continue to do events at other spaces but it gives us a bit of base to develop ourselves. The main difference is, Julia [Austin, former proprietor] used to run it as a taproom, so from Thursday to Sunday it was open just as a bar for people to be able to come in and have a beer.
"We're only running it as an events space, so if there's not an event on, it won't be open. However, some of those events will be public events. We'll open if it's like a dog social, one of our vegan festivals, markets etc. We'll do a range of events like that. Some we'll do in-house, and some we'll work with external promoters.
"The big difference is we'll open a lot more to the wedding and corporate market. They missed out on a lot of that because they wouldn't take bookings on a weekend, but we'll capitalise on that."
Five full time staff and about five other part time workers will remain in post following the deal, which will see Tyne Bank Brewery retain its name. Mr Bennett said he was keen to continue working with existing suppliers and customers, the business having previously secured a contract to supply beers to around 60 Co-op stores in the North East.
The new owners are now looking to recruit a head brewer in order to develop new beer ranges, and to complement existing staff. Mr Bennett added: "We need to the beer to be right to make sure the events side works but we see it as two separate projects: one is a space we know inside and out, the events business where we have a lot of contacts, and the brewery business is project number two."
Tyne Bank had previously raised more than £200,000 in investment via crowdfunding platform Crowdcude. Some investors had taken to the website to ask for more information following news of the administration - with one investor saying they had pledged £17,000.
Mr Bennett said Project Barrel was still in the process of starting communication with customers and suppliers, having set up the company last week and that it was "starting from scratch". However he plans to contact smaller investors, who he said were also valued customers of the brewery and would welcome their involvement in the new business.
The new owners say they will honour bookings over the Christmas period.
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