The Bakewell-based boss – whose company’s beers include Jaipur IPA 5.9% ABV, Green Mountain Session IPA 4.3% ABV and Lukas Helles Lager 4.2% ABV – iterated there has been a big squeeze on brewers and pub operators but added there is a boost for Thornbridge in the form of three new openings set for this year.
On whether the Government has let hospitality down, Webster said: “It really did. While I appreciate the country isn’t in its finest financial state and I welcomed a change of Government, [the Autumn] Budget really hit a sector that has been under pressure the most in the past five years.
“It really feels like a tsunami of challenges for us, starting with Covid and then the effects of the Ukraine war… we were all looking for a little bit of good news to come our way but to then be hit with that Budget will really be a challenge for the whole of industry.
“The idea that it will deliver a 1p saving on a pint of beer is, at best, naïve when anyone can see it will just increase prices on the bar.”
Three openings
However, Webster is pleased about upcoming events. He explained: “We have three new openings this year, which is very exciting.
“In 2018, we joined together with Pivovar to create some great city centre pub sites. The guys there have been friends for many years and [now we have] this opportunity to showcase Thornbridge beers across the country in some prestigious sites.
“We also have a few other sites in the pipeline for 2026 and 2027, so our journey continues.”
A flagship site in London will lead the way for Thornbridge with two others this year.
In the short term, the Derbyshire brewery is focused on finding efficiencies across the board. Webster said the war in Ukraine “really rocked” the world of brewing, adding the costs Thornbridge never considered have amounted to ones they had no choice but to try to take control over.
“Where in Covid times, we refocused the brewery, we have again taken a similar step – what this has really done is really [made us] consider our footprint on the environment and try to become more in control of the variants,” he said.
Drive quality
“Working with the Zero Carbon Forum has been great for us and this is driving a lot of the internal processes we have.”
He summarised: “I’m really encouraged with some of the opportunities we are looking at for 2025.
“With the challenges to the wider industry, people will think about where and what they drink more than ever but that may suit us because we operate in an area where we drive quality in beer and operations, and I feel we have to be better than ever to overcome these challenges.”
Thornbridge recently teamed up with award-winning beer writer Ruvani de Silva to launch a beer that also celebrated the brewery’s Brewer of the Year winner Dominic Driscoll.
The move followed a new beer being made on an historic Burton Union system a week prior called Union IPA.
Late last year, Thornbridge released an alcohol-free version of its flagship beer Jaipur.
