Best Brewing Pub Company sponsored by Food Alert - North Brewing Co

Founded by John Gyngell and Christian Townsley in 2015, having opened their first pub in 1997, the business has launched its Springwells brewery just north of Leeds city centre in the past year.

Its forward planning in terms of building relationships with its suppliers and breweries from around the world has helped it to continue to innovate during lockdowns and come out with a stunning number of beers spanning a gamut of styles.

Pandemic performance

With no single major backer to rely on when times were more than tough, North thrived during the pandemic launching new beers and coming up with ideas to maintain sales while its pubs were shut – its 99-can box for new core beer Springwell Pils being a stand-out feature that captured attention on national newswires and on TV. Meanwhile, Springwells Pils has replaced a third-party stalwart on the bar meaning all the profits come back into the business.

Field Recordings is the business’s experimental brewing hub and not only does it allow further innovation for new beers at its bars and off-trade lines, it also means the brewing team continues to be able to have fun while boosting the bottom line.

Staff training

Its staff have clearly been well-looked-after throughout the period, including allowing bar employees, who would have been furloughed, to work within the brewery because many were desperate to try to maintain a life as close to normality as possible. This also allowed bar staff to learn how to pour beers better and have more knowledge about its products to help customers pick the beer for them.

Working with other businesses that have green credentials matters to North and hygiene has been at the forefront of the business for staff and customers – but North is finally getting back to what it loves and that is being a face-to-face business that craves human interaction.