Brewery’s business plan has made it a catalyst for community
Covid-19 went off like a bomb across the hospitality sector. Somehow, out of the devastation came Gloucester Brewery, gathering community around it and determined to clear a path to a better future!
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Dear Readers,
We hope you have had a good week.
We usually paywall our Thursday edition to help pay for what we do, but as it’s Easter we’ve kept this one open to all. Not least because it mentions a beer festival this weekend!
Speaking of the paid-for member’s editions, last Friday saw us publish an article based on figures from UCAS - the University and Colleges Admission Service, based in Cheltenham, that handles all of the university applications in the UK.
What they told us was that more than half of the visitors to its site were now interested in apprenticeships and as a result it has changed its offer - to begin working more closely with employers to enable it to offer apprenticeships through its website as well as university degrees.
That tipping point, where some bemoan the emphasis on degrees and not enough on meaningful sector-focused training could well have been passed already! You can read it here - if you are a paying member! If not, you can always subscribe for a month - £12 - or a year for £2'.30 a week. You’ll be helping fund this community interest company to continue championing the county like no one else).
And on Monday we published a deep dive into the serious battles facing businesses with respect to their energy bills. Sky high prices may have passed, but many were locked into long term deals by eager energy firms during that time and the legacy will not be pleasant. But the story does hint at a happier ending, with Ofgem pushing Government for changes. The again, we are in an election year! Read more here.
Ths will be out last edition of the week - and no edition will go out on Monday either. We hope you have a great weekend. If you can, please encourage others to sign up for our editions. It would make our Easter!
Please do continue to bear us in mind for your stories and ideas. The best email currently is andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk. Or telephone 07956 926061.
Group subscriptions can get a 20 per cent discount here…
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our partners (we’ve already let you know about QuoLux and Gloucestershire College and more partners will be revealed over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support from all of you is invaluable! For commercial opportunities visit our About page. Email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
Why today’s main story?
Today’s main story is a focus on Gloucester Brewery. Why? Who doesn’t love the great British pub! And who doesn’t know how hard the hospitality sector is having it at the moment. The brewery is not so much ‘pivotting’ as positively pirouetting, and doing it publically too.
When Gloucester Quays was unveiled and the chain restaurants and bars moved in bumping shoulders with them for space from the start was the brewery, proudly wearing its Gloucester badge and adding that intriguing mix to the table only independents can.
And then came Covid-19 - like a bomb, changing everything forever.
And back came Gloucester Brewery. This is just part of the story of how it has picked itself up from the rumble and begun again. Raikes can’t think of many other businesses currently so determined to stand at the centre of its community and support others.
And if none of that really grabs you, and you just want to party like its Easter weekend - the brewery has a beer/gin festival on from Friday to Sunday, complete with live music and food!
Lastly, please forgive us the short article below. As we were writing our latest forthcoming piece announcing our next Founding Partnership, we came by these comments! Thank you Gloucestershire College!!
Praise for The Raikes Journal from Gloucestershire College
We can’t get over these kind words explaining why Gloucestershire College made the decision to become one of The Raikes Journal’s backers, and decided to publish them ahead of an article unveiling more exciting developments at the college next week.
When we began to explore re-launching this website and email editions as a community interest company Gloucestershire College was one of the first organisations we spoke to.
Our aim was to use the knowledge gathered from covering the county for more than two decades to create a journalistically-led platform to support and bring together the county’s businesses, charities and those involved in education and training.
It was to be a new model, supported and made possible by partners and by charging subscribers for two of its weekly email editions.
Gloucestershire College said ‘yes’ to backing the idea. When you are a small business, especially a start-up – that means the world. We can’t thank it enough. And now it’s topped that with some incredible words - almost too embarrassing to share here. Then again!
“It’s key for us to have an independent local media to complement our own communications and channels. Nowadays, it is sometimes difficult to know when a news story is real news or advertising. Good quality journalism helps add a balanced view of what's happening in the region,” said Shelly Mccatty, head of marketing at the college.
“We have worked with Andy for a number of years and consider him as one of the great business writers of the region. He is a true journalist with a real passion for finding and following a story, and is driven by stories over advertising.
“Andy has been a supporter of the college for many years, has great connections, respect and reach, and has helped us communicate our messages and raise our profile.”
Your Raikes’ briefing
🏨 💷 Once unable to touch a high street fashion business without it doing exceptionally well, businessman George Davies has been lying low for a few years now - in Gloucestershire. At age 82 and with a track record including launching high street success story Next, George at Asda and Per Una at Marks & Spencer, you may have thought he would have little appetite for more. You would be wrong. He has invested in a 10-bedroom luxury hotel in Broadway, near his Cotswold Home, and it is expected to open in June.
🏭💷 A £48 million deal has seen Vantage Point Business Village in the Forest of Dean sold by long-standing owner Brian Bennett to new owners, Sirius Real Estate. It means the scores of businesses based at the 67-acre Mitcheldean site, including the Forest of Dean’s Growth Hub, now have a new landlord. Sirius Real Estate also owns the business parks Gloucester Barnwood and Gloucester Morelands.
🍽️💷 The Stratton Court Hotel has continued to invest. Husband and wife team Aiden and Sarah Stevens, owners of the Cirencester business, have followed their 2021 refurbishment of all the bedrooms and the addition of a £1 million spa by spending £300,000 on its kitchen and Garden Restaurant. The investment has also created new jobs. An official opening is planned for April.
Brewery’s business plan has made it a catalyst for community and a champion of Gloucestershire
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit it went off like a bomb across the hospitality industry. Somehow, out of the devastation came Gloucester Brewery, gathering community around it and determined to clear a path to a better future!
By Andrew Merrell.
On the face of it, this is a business which closed like many others in the Covid-19 pandemic and then reopened – hand-in-hand with lots of good will and customers, admittedly, but face to face with one almighty uphill struggle.
But when you look closer, the story of Gloucester Brewery is proving extraordinary, inspirational, and few businesses are distilling the essence of the best of the spirit of the city like it.
Its plan has been to not just to rebuild its business, but to build it into the community in a way that makes a positive impact, to work with everyone it thinks it can help, completely putting its faith in the approach that what is good for all will be good for itself
A lot of heavy lifting has gone on, but the plan is working.
“We have come through an extremely difficult period financially – made difficult because of Covid.
“We have addressed a lot of legacy debt that resulted from that period and got into the black and are trading up. And we have more people coming here than ever before,” said Geoff Smith, the brewery’s managing director.
That period has also included investment in its giant warehouse – with a new mezzanine floor, an increase in events - from live music and quiz nights to LGBTQ+ and umpteen charity events to live rugby screenings.
In its backroom, while I’m visiting, another business is holding a private meeting in its boardroom upstairs.
“We wanted to put ourselves at the heart of the community,” said Smith.
“It is a lot of work. If you look at what we do – it is about being involved and giving support.
“We have been working with Gloucester Deaf Association, Emily’s Gift, Hope for Tomorrow, Holly Gazzard Trust and more. It's about being part of it and being seen. We look at what we can do to make an impact.”
As well as charities it has a working relationship with the University of Gloucestershire’s business school, which sees it work closely with its students and has just begun a similar project with Gloucestershire College to provide valuable experience to those in further education too.
“Gloucester Brewery is one of Gloucestershire’s best-kept secrets,” said Smith.
“We still sell beer and spirits, and still want to grow, but we want to bring the personality to the product. That is all about relationships. People buy people.”
The brewery may have had a battle on its hands since the pandemic, but it also had a bold plan - even before Smith came on board. In November 2021, as the UK still struggled with lockdowns, Gloucester Brewery launched a £500,000 crowdfunding campaign to fund expansion, and development of Warehouse 4 and to establish itself as one of the leading independent eco-friendly breweries and distilleries in the UK.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, it had recorded 'a very strong financial performance' with 2021 proving to be its most successful year to date, according to Jared Brown at the time.
Brown was then still the face of the brewery he founded in 2011 with business partner Bev Booth, but as the Crowdfunder launched he was stood alongside backers including Martin St Quinton, owner of Gloucester Rugby and chairman of Cheltenham Racecourse, and Cheltenham businessman Dave Lewins, who both invested in the business in 2019.
The beer has since found its way into Gloucester Rugby’s Kingsholm Stadium and its recently purchased Heritage Bar.
Lance Bradley, the club’s former chief executive officer, and its current coach, George Skivington were also among the investors. As was Smith, a man who has built a reputation for helping businesses in the county develop.
When Raikes meets him he kindly breaks off from an early start at his offices at Warehouse 4 to join us - with his dog, Barney - in the 2,500 square foot space that is the tap room’s indoor area beside Llanthony Road Bridge, directly opposite the antithesis of the brewery - JD Wetherspoon’s Lord High Constable.
When he says he is looking forward to a week off with the family after the Easter weekend, I ask if it means he's packing a lot of work in to make that happen.
“That’s how it is every week, whether I’m going away or not,” he says, laughing.
I ask him how one of his most recent relationships is going, with Gloucester Deaf Association and he enthusiastically tells me how he’s trying to learn sign language.
“It will let me talk to more people,” he said. If the brewery is on a journey of discovery, Smith is too.
The day before he was at Gloucester Cathedral learning more about what it does in the community, its work with the Gloucestershire Community Foundation and to tackle deprivation in the city.
“That is a partnership piece,” he said, talking about how the Brewery might be able to help support.
Why is it important to be seen doing good?
“I have worked with and seen organisations that have been given a badge, like B Corp, but they don’t do much else after that. It needs to have meaning.
“I think the partnership approach is part of my heritage. I spent seven years in the military and I've spent a lot of time in sport and the sporting community. All of which involved strong teams. A lot of it comes from there.
“There are a lot of people out there doing good things, but doing them by themselves. Some people abuse the idea of a partnership, but done right there is a lot of strength in developing good relationships and helping one another.”
That approach has been working its alchemy with recent business decisions too. It looked long and hard at its successful Tank bar – the original home of Gloucester Brewery in the Docks and a popular bar beside the aforementioned Weatherspoons.
“It was too similar to Warehouse 4 and we saw an opportunity with Guilt Trip,” said Smith, meaning it was able to move out of the space, in name at least, and allow the Cheltenham-born brand in instead – morphing into a day-time cafe and bringing new revenue through the sale of coffee and doughnuts, but still selling its beer and Fox’s Kiln Gin in the evenings.
“All of the staff were moved over. No jobs were lost,” said Smith.
Before that move all 40 staff were on the brewery's books. Now it has a much slimmer team of 25. The rest are with Guilt Trip.
Its ambitions to expand remains unthwarted. It recently threw its hat into the ring to bid to become the new tenant of the former Chambers pub on the corner of King’s Square in the city centre.
With 2,000-plus students due to move into the former Debenhams building across the square and the whole area subject to a city council-led £107 million redevelopment scheme, it’s easy to understand why.
But when the council favoured a bid from Rich Palmer, who wants to open a new community interest company and cafe in the space, called The Corner, Smith was not long in revealing he had struck up a partnership deal for the Brewery to be part of the venture.
The brewery is already working with The Music Works, the charity two floors above where The Corner will be, which helps young people achieve their musical ambitions. Gloucester Brewery invites its best acts to perform on its Warehouse 4 stage.
Anything else? As if that’s not enough.
The answer is ‘yes, plenty’, including plans already afoot to install a kitchen in the rear of Warehouse 4 and work with the likes of The Gateway Trust and other young wannabe chefs.
Smith explains it will give opportunities to those chefs to develop their skills and customer base in a real business – while also providing exciting food for Warehouse 4 customers.
This, he said, could well produce the next tenants for the already hugely popular Food Dock just across the water from where we are sat.
Which only remains for us to tell you about this weekend’s beer festival – craft beer, gins (it is also home to Fox’s Kiln Distillery), street food, live music. Friday March 29 to March 31, 12pm - 11:30pm at Warehouse 4, West Quay, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2LG. Entry is £10, which includes your first drink. Find out more here.
* Everything you read on Raikes is made possible by the generous support of our Founding Partners (we’ve already let you know about QuoLux and Gloucestershire College and more will be revealed over the coming weeks) our founding members and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable!
🔓 You’ve been reading a free edition of The Raikes Journal, for which we are grateful. Please do spread the word about what we are trying to do - create a real, journalistically-led, community-orientated, Gloucestershire-focused digital magazine. If you upgrade to paid, you will get on average eight extra members-only editions every month and will be able to see beyond any paywalls, as well as read Raikes’ rolling Top 100-plus Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You will also be allowed to comment on stories, make suggestions for what we should be writing about, vote in our awards, and might even be invited to our roundtable events. And you’ll be supporting the rebirth of high-quality journalism in Gloucestershire on a website championing the county you love — all for just £2.30 per week (Ask us about 20 per cent off for groups of two or more subscribers).