£1m Market Drayton brewery boost will create 25 jobs
A £1 million investment in a brewery in Shropshire will create 25 jobs and see its existing site almost double in size, it was revealed today.
Bosses at Joule's Brewery, in Market Drayton, will use the loan from The Co-Operative Bank to open nine new pubs and expand the store at the brewery, based at the Red Lion pub in the town. About £150,000 of the money will be invested in the brew house in Great Hales Street.
Plans include the creation of a 50 square metre beer store, a new loading bay for bigger trucks and improvements to the car park.
Steve Nuttall, managing director of Joule's, said the new pubs will all be opened within a 40-minute drive of Market Drayton.
He said he is currently looking at potential sites, but cannot reveal further details yet. And he said the expansion has come quicker than expected.
He said: "The beer has gone a lot better than we thought, we thought it would take longer. We would have built the store bigger in the first place it we had foreseen it.
"There will be a new couple of people in our brew house but across our trading area, we'd probably see about 25 new jobs in the next 12 to 18 months."
In December the site produced almost 400 barrels of beer, 144,000 gallons – or 115,200 pints.
Bosses hope to submit a planning application for the work at the brew house in the next three to four weeks and start building at Easter.
The company was set up in 2010 and currently lists 18 pubs among its estate.
Adam Goodall, head brewer at Joule's, said: "I am pleased that we are having to expand the brewery so quickly. In just two years we are having to double in size and it is fantastic.
"No-one expected us to get there that quickly, we have just come off the back of three record weeks over Christmas. Sales were up 40 per cent on last year."
Civic leaders have welcomed the announcement and Councillor Steve Glover, the mayor of Market Drayton, described it as a 'shot in the arm' for the town.
