Claims that Hawkshead Brewery was forced to close its Staveley base due to car parking charges have been dismissed by the site’s landlords as a ‘flimsy narrative’.
The brewery and beer hall at Staveley closed with immediate effect – and seemingly out the blue – yesterday, prompting dismay and outrage from people on social media and across the area.
Brewery owner Halewood said the Hawkshead Bar was leased and was no longer profitable to operate, claiming it was due to the landlords applying new parking charges which deterred customers.
Butt David Brockbank, owner of Staveley Mill Yard, said this was not the case – and attempts to save the brewery from closure had been thwarted by Halewood.
He said: “We strongly refute any suggestions that parking charges on site are responsible for a drop in trade and it seems most people have seen through this flimsy narrative.
“Indeed, since they were implemented in March, we have recorded an incredibly steady number of visitors choosing to use our parking facilities.”
It is claimed the move by Halewood has resulted in 12 redundancies, although three members of staff have been offered the chance to transfer to its Flookburgh plant.
Mr Brockbank said: “We’re naturally disappointed to be losing a popular tenant but our thoughts right now are with the 12 team members who have lost their livelihoods
“We have made repeated attempts to engage with Halewood over the last four months in the hope of finding a constructive way forward, but these attempts have been met with a wall of silence.”
Mr Brockbank said he wanted to help the staff set up a small local brewery procuring craft beers and run as a co-operative.
He said it would not be a competitive threat to a big national company like Halewood.
He added: “Our focus now is on supporting Halewood to vacate the premises as soon as possible and to finding a use for the unit that supports our ethos of providing a vibrant hub for the community across the wider yard complex.
“One possibility we are exploring is the creation of a community brewery and beer hall. This will, of course, require the co-operation of Halewood.
“After enjoying the support of our community for many years, we are hopeful they will see fit to pay that back by leaving the unit intact.”
Hawkshead Brewery was originally set up in 2002 by former BBC correspondent Alex Brodie in a barn near his home in Hawkshead.
In 2006 it moved into the new purpose-built brewery at Staveley, building into a highly successful business with £2.5m annual turnover.
In 2017 the business was sold to Halewood, who had already owned the former Willow Water plant at Flookburgh, where they built a £3m Krones brewery.
The Staveley brewery was kept going largely supported by the beer hall. It first shut during the first Covid-19 shutdown and the then head brewer and managing director were made redundant.
Halewood announced yesterday that it was going to consolidate its beer and spirits production in Cumbria, resulting in the closure of Hawkshead Brewery and Beer Hall in Staveley.
It said: “In order to be competitive on price we need to utilise our larger state of the art Krones Beer Line at our owned production site in Flookburgh.
“The old small brewery pub site at Staveley is leased and is not sustainable from an energy and efficiency point of view with manually operated equipment which will be unable to cope with the increased volumes.”
