Meantime to build new brewery
London brewers Meantime have secured their future by signing a lease on new brewery premises in Blackwall Lane, SE10. This means that the Meantime Brewing Company will be able to remain in Greenwich: the locality that gives the firm its name.
The 30,000 sq. ft. premises will be home to brand new brewing equipment, including a fully-automated 50 hectolitre brewhouse that will double Meantime's existing capacity overnight and enable an eventual quadrupling of the firms current 12,000 Hl production.
At a total cost of some GBP1.5m, the brewery move represents a major investment in manufacturing in the capital and is a significant element in the company's strategy to make Londoner's proud once more of their great brewing heritage. Not many Londoners will be aware that for centuries London was the brewing capital of the world, or that the South London firm Barclay Perkins, whose premises were to the south of the Tate Modern, was the world's largest brewery.
The story of beer and London will be told to visitors in the brewery's new, fully equipped training suite, as the facility, only 10 minutes walk from the O2 Arena, will be a significant tourist attraction in its own right
Just one and a quarter miles west of Meantime's present home, the Blackwall Lane site is much more accessible to the public. This will also facilitate the company's distribution to its central London customers, knocking some 2,500 miles off the company's annual mileage.
Meantime were assisted in locating and acquiring the premises by the active support local MP Nick Raynsford and the council who were determined that a lack of suitable business premises would not drive one of London's most successful manufacturing enterprises out of its home borough.
Although beer will not emerge from the new brewery until the summer, Greenwich residents will by then be used to the sight of those brewing vessels that have a role at the new brewery making sedate progress along the Woolwich Road as the old brewery is gradually decommissioned and the new brewery is assembled.
Meantime founder, brewmaster, and Brewer of the Year 2008, Alastair Hook, said: "This major investment will secure the future of Meantime and the jobs of our employees, by enabling us to streamline our production and satisfy the growing demand for our beer that we are experiencing as more and more Londoners are aware that great beer is being made on their doorstep. This is going to put Meantime firmly on the map of London."
418 Words
The 30,000 sq. ft. premises will be home to brand new brewing equipment, including a fully-automated 50 hectolitre brewhouse that will double Meantime's existing capacity overnight and enable an eventual quadrupling of the firms current 12,000 Hl production.
At a total cost of some GBP1.5m, the brewery move represents a major investment in manufacturing in the capital and is a significant element in the company's strategy to make Londoner's proud once more of their great brewing heritage. Not many Londoners will be aware that for centuries London was the brewing capital of the world, or that the South London firm Barclay Perkins, whose premises were to the south of the Tate Modern, was the world's largest brewery.
The story of beer and London will be told to visitors in the brewery's new, fully equipped training suite, as the facility, only 10 minutes walk from the O2 Arena, will be a significant tourist attraction in its own right
Just one and a quarter miles west of Meantime's present home, the Blackwall Lane site is much more accessible to the public. This will also facilitate the company's distribution to its central London customers, knocking some 2,500 miles off the company's annual mileage.
Meantime were assisted in locating and acquiring the premises by the active support local MP Nick Raynsford and the council who were determined that a lack of suitable business premises would not drive one of London's most successful manufacturing enterprises out of its home borough.
Although beer will not emerge from the new brewery until the summer, Greenwich residents will by then be used to the sight of those brewing vessels that have a role at the new brewery making sedate progress along the Woolwich Road as the old brewery is gradually decommissioned and the new brewery is assembled.
Meantime founder, brewmaster, and Brewer of the Year 2008, Alastair Hook, said: "This major investment will secure the future of Meantime and the jobs of our employees, by enabling us to streamline our production and satisfy the growing demand for our beer that we are experiencing as more and more Londoners are aware that great beer is being made on their doorstep. This is going to put Meantime firmly on the map of London."
418 Words
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