North Brewing Co growing across the globe
North Brewing Co director Christian Townsley outlined how the expansion of beer sales has grown from the local to the export market.
He said: “It started local, just in and around Leeds, then the north and north-west. It was then extended nationwide before we started looking at the export market.
“We were approached by a couple of people about exporting, and it has gone from there.
“We had a target of two countries to export to but at the minute, we've got beer in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland and Jersey (which is technically an export market).”
Full brewing capacity
The growth of the business wasn't something North Brewing Co had particularly aimed for, said Townsley, and it doesn’t have the capacity to grow any further at present.
“We are also speaking with other export markets but we are just reacting to the interest we have received - we haven’t really aggressively chased it, they have come to us," he said.
“We would push it a lot harder and export to more countries, or chase more exports if we had the capacity, but at the minute we are at full brewing capacity so we can’t physically make any more beer.”
Earlier this summer, in June, the brewing company teamed up with Leeds Indie Food to create a weekly food fair, EatNorth.
Townsley explained this initiative had been very successful and the plan was to continue with the event throughout the summer.
20-year celebrations
The Leeds-based company’s operating arm, North Bar, is celebrating its 20th year by raising £20,000 for a local charity.
Townsley added: “We have been operating for 20 years now so our big drive this year is to raise £20,000 for St Gemma’s Hospice.
“We have supported the hospice throughout the years but this year, we wanted to do something big for them and drive it really hard.
“Our customers and staff are all getting together through different events to raise money and this seems to be going well so far.”
