A Cumbrian brewery is celebrating its 10th birthday.
Fell Brewery, in Flookburgh, produces 6,800 litres of beer a week – or 12,000 pints – and runs three bars in Kendal, Penrith and Chorlton, pub,The Royal Oak in Cartmel and a new events venue, Glisky in Kendal.
The brewery was set up by Tim Bloomer and Andrew Carter, friends from school who became disillusioned with corporate work life and decided to return to Cumbria, where they grew up, and start their own brewery.
Tim returned to university to undertake a masters in brewing before he and Andrew took the plunge and signed a lease on a premises in Flookburgh in 2013.
They said: “Looking back to then, the memory that jumps out the most is just how ignorant and naïve we were to think things would be so easy. Truth is we were two lads who thought starting a brewery and taking the global brewing industry by storm would be easy.
“Predictably, we were very wrong indeed. Having been as confident as we were, it left us with no choice but to doggedly persevere until things did eventually start to come good or blew up spectacularly in our faces.”
They said opening the bars – starting with Kendal and Penrith in 2017, Chorlton in July 2020 and signing the lease for the Royal Oak in 2021 – changed the brand for the better.
Glisky, an events venue on the Dockray Hall estate in Kendal opened to coincide with the brewery’s 10th birthday last month.
Tim and Andrew said: “The 10-year milestone has really made us question our inspiration, motivation and purpose. Our goal is to stand secure in the knowledge that what we do does genuinely sit sustainably alongside every aspect of our environment. We want to feel confident that Fell will help develop and enhance this place and the wider world for decades to come.”
The brewery installed solar panels on its roof last year, which aim to generate about half of its energy requirements and its goal is to become a carbon neutral business.
The pair said: “When we think back to 2013, the thing that we really didn’t predict and has taken me most by surprise, is the sheer strength and vibrancy of the communities that surround us.
“We would never have predicted the complexity and power behind the relationships we have formed with them. People really are truly remarkable when they come together, and learning this is the thing that has changed us the most this last decade. So to everyone who has supported us, embraced us, welcomed us, championed us, stuck up for us, defended us, helped us… Thank you! This last decade has accidentally been the journey of a lifetime and I wouldn’t change a thing. We hope you can join us at some point in celebrating what lies ahead.”
