Halewood Artisanal Spirits is to consolidate its beer and spirits production in Cumbria, resulting in the closure of its Hawkshead Brewery and Beer Hall in Staveley.
The Whitley Neill and Dead Man’s Fingers owner is to shift production of Hawkshead beers to a production site 20 miles away in Flookburgh.
The Flookburgh site was opened in 2018 as a second brewing facility for Hawkshead, but a distillery was added by Halewood last year.
It is currently used to produce Crabbie’s ginger beer and Bankhall whisky.
“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, Cumbria,” Halewood CEO Stewart Hainsworth told The Grocer. “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 increased volumes.”
Brewery staff at Staveley were being offered the opportunity to relocate to the Flookburgh site, Hainsworth said.
The Staveley Hawkshead Beer Hall, however, was “no longer profitable to operate due to the landlord applying new parking charges”, he said.
It will therefore be closed by Halewood, resulting in four permanent full-time redundancies.
It is not the first time Hawkshead staff have faced layoffs in recent years. Halewood made 12 staff in Staveley and Flookburgh redundant in April 2020, citing the impact of Covid-19.
Halewood remained committed to expanding reach and distribution of Hawkshead beers including its flagship Windermere Pale Ale, Hainsworth said.
“Halewood intends to invest in Hawkshead beer to be available on keg in our own distillery bars in Liverpool, London and Bristol,” he said. “All the core Hawkshead beers will continued to be produced from Cumbria and we expect a smooth transition over to the Flookburgh site that has produced Hawkshead beers in the past.”
Revenues at Halewood slid by £33m to £162.4m in the year ended 1 July 2023, as the company scaled back on international expansion, ended third party and Own-label manufacturing agreements and sold or delisted low-margin brands.
Losses, meanwhile, climbed from £16.9m to £20.9m, as cost inflation across energy, raw materials, wages and freight hit margins at the distiller and brewer.
No comments yet