Ilkley Brewery expands capacity

The move increases the Yorkshire company’s capacity fourfold and came after the brewery agreed a debt and equity package, from Glentrool Capital Partners, which will also provide corporate support to help grow the company.

Joint owner Stewart Ross told Foodmanufacture.co.uk that the Yorkshire company is targeting a £750,000 turnover in 2011, and saw sales of £294,000 and pre-tax profits of £46,000 last year.

Ross said Ilkley Brewery’s beers were now in 14 Booths supermarkets now and 12 local Asda supermarkets, while it also supplies pubs including Wetherspoons.

The company would be rolling out in more Booths stores and was talking to Tesco, he said, while it would also be approaching other supermarkets as well as independent pubs.

Catapulted into stratosphere​

Ross said: “We are really surprised how this has all taken off. The awards we have won have really catapulted us into the stratosphere.”​

Ilkley Brewery made its name with its Mary Jane beer, which won a Society of Independent Brewers’ gold award in 2009.

Ross added: “There are some new figures from the Society of Independent Brewers for 2010 which show that artisan cask conditioned beer sales were up 8%, while draft beers in general were down 5%.”​

Owned by Ross and Chris Ives, Ilkley Brewery was set up in early 2009 after the pair decided to re-establish brewing in the spa town after the disappearance of the original Ilkley Brewery in the 1920s.

The firm’s other beers include Stout Mary, an oatmeal stout, Ilkley Pale, Ilkley Black and Lotus IPA.