A Derby brewery has smashed through its £5,000 crowd funding target after receiving a £2,500 pledge from local farm shop Croots.
Pub entrepreneurs George Lambert and Walter Scott, who own a micropub in Derby and a pub in Burton, launched the appeal in the hope of raising £5,000 to grow their original venture, Wentwell Brewery.
The pair ran the crowd funding appeal through Crowdfunder, a website that allows the public to donate money in return for rewards….in this case ale.
With less than a week to go before the 28-day deadline, Wentwell Brewery had been pledged £2,850 of the £5,000 target.
But when Steve Croot, owner of Croots Farm Shop, based at Duffield in Derbyshire, heard about the venture he stepped forward and pledged a further £2,500, which has taken the brewery past its target and now means the project will go ahead.
Real ale fan Steve Croot said: “It’s a win, win situation. Wentwell Brewery can go ahead with its expansion plans. Croots Farm Shop can stock additional beers, and our customers will benefit by being able to buy more ale from a local brewery.
“This is a case of one established local business stepping in to support another growing local business. We are delighted with the partnership and are looking forward to taking our delivery of beer in due course.”
Steve’s pledge will entitle him to hundreds of bottles of beer which he will add to the range of local beers already on sale at Croots.
Wentwell Brewery began its life in a domestic garage as a half-barrel plant and after doing well at beer festivals, George Lambert and Walter Scott invested in a two-and-a-half barrel plant. When the business outgrew the garage, they opened Derby's first micro-pub, the Little Chester Ale House, in Chester Green Road in 2012. Earlier this year they took on The Derby Inn, in Derby Road, Burton upon Trent.
George Lambert said: “We were delighted with the support we received from the public to our crowd-funding appeal, and really pleased when Steve Croot came forward with his generous offer to invest in our plans. It’s great to see local businesses helping each other.”
The project will allow Wentwell Brewery to buy a hot liquor tank and a new heat exchange unit, which will increase the efficiency of the existing plant and allow the brewery to sell more ale to the free trade.
“Making our existing plant more efficient means less disruption at a very important time in the business with the new pub,” said George. “For this we need a hot liquor tank (HLT) and a new heat exchange unit. We are so pleased that we have received enough pledges to allow us to go ahead and would like to thank everyone who backed us.”
The brewery, which is based at Perkins Industrial Estate, Derby, was pledged £5,650 in total. Backers are expected to receive their rewards in ale during August.
Croots Farm Shop opened in 2008 and is based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road. It is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.
It supports many local producers and businesses, with around 40 producers from within a 50-mile radius supplying items to the shop.
For more information about Croots visit www.croots.co.uk For more information about Wentwell Brewery visit www.facebook.com/WentwellBrewery
Twitter @crootsfarm_shop @wentwellbrewery
