The Leeds-based brewery was co-founded in 2011 by John Gyngell and Christian Townsley, who said in a statement that the firm is now looking for “additional investment”. They put the brewery’s plight down to the ongoing impact of Covid, Brexit, the cost of living crisis and rising input costs.
Recently rebranded as North, the beer maker opened its new brewery at Springwell Works in 2020, a move which allowed the brand to double its capacity to around 2.8m pints a year. In addition to the brewery and tap room at the Springwell site, North operates 10 venues in the UK and one in Italy.
In a statement released by North's founders this month (January 2024), Gyngell and Townsley confirmed that they had "submitted a notice of intent" to appoint administrators.
"We’re currently working with advisors and have recently commenced a process to seek additional investment into our business, which will enable us to push forward with our plans for 2024 and beyond,” the statement read.
“Like the rest of the hospitality and brewing world, over the last four years we’ve endured the turbulence of Covid, Brexit, material cost increases, cost of living crisis and interest rate rises. As a result, we’ve been looking for investment and will have news to share in the coming days.
“Due to the commercial nature of the discussions, we can't say more but will keep you updated as soon as we can share further details. All 'North Bar' venues are unaffected by the above”.
According to North’s most recent accounts, published on 8 April 2023 and including the 12 months up to 31 March 2022, the firm increased turnover year-on-year by 45% but the directors elected against including a copy of the income statement within the financial statements.
