Local brewery expands with help from Enterprise South West Shropshire

A growing Shropshire brewery has said it would not have been able to expand without the help of an organisation that provides support to the rural economy.

The Three Tuns Brewery, based in Bishop’s Castle, is the oldest working brewery in Britain and received its first brewing licence in 1642.

But in order to expand from its Grade II listed building, the brewery required the help of Enterprise South West Shropshire (ESWS), based in Enterprise House in the centre of Bishop’s Castle.

The organisation provides a huge range of facilities for the rural community as well as many services for local businesses.

Kieran Jones, operations director at the Three Tuns Brewery, said without ESWS, the business would not be one tenth of the size it is today.

He said: “At Enterprise House, we have our offices from where we have five members of staff operating. We also have storage for our cask barrels that we deliver to pubs and our online packing area.”

The brewery was hugely affected by the Covid Pandemic but Mr Jones said ESWS stepped in to help.

“With Covid, our income went to nothing,” he said. “It all came to a dramatic halt but ESWS helped us with rent payments and were really helpful landlords.”

Previously, the Three Tuns Brewery sold its cask barrels direct to pubs but launched an online shop in December to tackle the problems caused by Covid.

“Our online shop has helped us get up and going again,” Mr Jones said.

The Three Tuns Brewery moved its offices to Enterprise House about four years ago and has gradually expanded as additional space has become available.

“We were previously using office space in a house but we needed somewhere more professional to scale up and Enterprise House was one of the only available spaces in the area,” Mr Jones said.

“ESWS has been fantastic with our needs as a business. We are growing and they have helped us scale up with extra space. We also use them for printing and we use their meetings rooms regularly.

“Without ESWS, we would be in a right mess. In the brewery, we have no storage space. We would not be a tenth of the size we are now without ESWS.”

Enterprise House rents out buildings to other local businesses in the area, which otherwise would struggle to stay in Bishop’s Castle, according to ESWS manager Rob McKay.

He said: “The Enterprise House site is critical to employment in the town, and we rent space to a number of small businesses.

“There are more than 150 local businesses using ESWS on a regular basis from artists to farmers to the local garage to the brewery. We are used for administrative purposes such as publishing or printing and to those businesses, our services can be vital. Our services are also used by countless local interest groups and individuals.”