Member Article

North East beer club pioneers secure six-figure investment

The North East brewers behind a unique club designed to promote UK craft beers and real ales have secured a six-figure investment to drive the business forward with warehouse facilities and marketing activity.

Last year Delaval Brewers launched The National Trust Beer Club - a membership organisation through which small regional brewers can sell their products.

The Beer Club’s formation came about as an extension of Delavals’ relationship with the National Trust, for which it is an official licensee and with which it had previously launched four beers named after Trust properties across the North East, including the site that inspired the firm’s name, Seaton Delaval Hall.

Investment from the Finance for Business North East Growth Fund, via NEL Fund Managers, will go towards development of warehouse facilities, marketing activity, website development and a new smartphone app.

Several levels of Beer Club membership are available, with different products supplied at different times of the year to reflect seasonal tastes, the vast majority of which are award-winning beers from award-winning breweries to ensure the quality standard remains high.

The first National Trust Beer Club Festival is now set to take place in August this year at another of the National Trust’s North East locations after which Delavals named a beer, Washington Old Hall.

John Gilfillan, managing director at Delavals Brewers, who runs the company with his brother David, says: “In the same way that wine clubs have become very popular, we believe there’s a real market for a high quality beer club that’s run along similar lines, and the National Trust brand provides tremendous momentum towards realising this goal.

“Our point of difference is the high quality products that we supply that would ordinarily only be available to beer connoisseurs living near where they are made, and with over 1,000 breweries in the UK, we have a wide range of products from which to select those we think members will enjoy.

“The demographic for people who enjoy carefully-crafted beers is changing, with the majority of our members so far being female and either buying for themselves or as a gift, and this creates an exciting opportunity that we’re now fully resourced and ready to address.

“We’re really pleased with the number of members we’ve attracted so far, and new ones are now being targeted through a wide range of channels, with discussions continuing about further commercial partnerships which would provide mutual benefits for all involved.

“We wanted to find a regional source of investment in the business, and NEL offered us the right option. The team offered solid and sensible guidance through the investment application process, and we’ve very much enjoyed interacting with them.”

Simon Johnson, senior investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Delavals have a clear vision of how they want The National Trust Beer Club to develop, and now have the resources to go alongside the product knowledge, distribution channels and industry expertise required to make it a huge success.”

Aimed at regional businesses which are at a development and growth stage, the Growth Fund forms part of the wider Finance for Business North East Fund.

Managed by North East Finance, it will see £125m of investment capital injected into the region by the European Investment Bank and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2007-13 over a five year period.

NEL is looking to make around 130 investments over the five year lifespan of the Growth Fund, and is actively looking to speak to ambitious North East companies with robust business plans.

For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit http://www.nel.co.uk/ or contact the investment team on 0845 111 1850.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .