'Being a brewery run by the community helps us keep going'

The brewery has become a focus for the community

A booming interest in British beer saw a decade of expansion for British breweries. But they have faced serious problems in recent years, with Masham-based Black Sheep Brewery the latest to announce it is intending to appoint administrators.

The BBC spoke to one of a handful of community-owned breweries to find out how it has survived.

On an industrial estate on the edge of Dronfield in Derbyshire, the smell of hops and hot malt mixes happily in the air.

Drone Valley Brewery has been based on the outskirts of Unstone for seven years, and has ridden out floods, Covid and rising costs to become part of the local beer scene.

What began as a community group has continued to grow and, despite the pressures facing breweries across the country, its hundreds of members hope to keep the ale flowing.

Drone Valley Brewery has a small team of brewers to produce its range of real ales

Drone Valley was established in 2016 during a boom for British beer-making, as brewery numbers soared from hundreds to more than 2,000.

It is one of a small handful of breweries that are community-owned, with any profits redirected into local groups and events.

Initially 300 people backed the venture, with the brewery now attracting the direct support of about 720 members.

Bernard Caddy, chairman of the brewery's management committee since 2019, said it fulfils a different role from other beer-makers.

"Because we're a community benefit society, we legally have to put the profits back into the community - it makes us different," he said.

"The profits don't go back to the owners, so as a member you don't get anything back as a dividend or things like that, however well you do.

"We don't get a big payout, but I think that's a good thing, because we're attracted to it for very different reasons."

Bernard Caddy is currently chairman of the brewery's management committee

A member since the early days, Mr Caddy said he got involved in the running of the brewery after retirement, allowing him to combine a love for brewing with community work.

After gaining support from some local pubs in the early days, he said the members have worked hard to grow the customer base.

"In the first three years David McLaren, who was running the Three Tuns in Dronfield, was always taking our beers - it was like the brewery tap," he said.

"After that closed in 2018 we started doing pop-up pubs and bottle stalls at markets."

The brewery has used pop-up bars and market stalls to spread the word

Though most of the people involved with the brewery are volunteers, a small number of crucial positions are filled by paid employees.

Craig Lee spent 30 years working for Royal Mail, but after putting himself through a series of brewing courses he has been employed as the brewing manager since 2019.

"I saw the advert [for a brewer] and thought it would be something I could do once a week and find another job," he said.

"I found it went up to two days a week, then three and now it's five, and I love doing it."

Mr Caddy said the brewery management role was one area where expertise was needed.

"We're dealing with natural ingredients, so hops and malts change year on year, and what Craig has done is to make sure we're getting it right all the time," he said.

"It's good having volunteers, but you need to have someone giving out orders, checking on things and being professional."

The brewery was ticking along well for years, but disaster struck in November 2019 when the site was badly hit by flooding, suffering a similar level of damage to areas of neighbouring Sheffield.

Mr Caddy said they lost about £20,000 as a result, with members working hard to reopen the site in a matter of months.

Drone Valley Brewery has become a popular spot for local drinkers

"I remember I walked in that Friday morning and thought 'oh god, this is the end', but we've got a good solid group of volunteers who were determined to keep it going," he said.

"We lost a huge number of bottles - anything that was touched with water had to go.

"We'd stacked our casks three high, and [the water] got over the second barrel, so we lost about two-thirds of our stock, and we had been building up for Christmas.

"We reopened about three months later, but we were still cleaning sludge up for a while afterwards."

The brewery was badly affected by flooding in November 2019

After the flood came Covid, with the pandemic presenting a range of problems as pubs closed and restrictions on working with people were put in place.

Mr Lee said the rules around space meant he was often the only one in the brewery, leaving him to brew and bottle up beer before passing it on to drivers to deliver to local customers.

"For the first few months I was on my own bottling orders, anywhere between 100 and 300 a week," he said.

"I'm normally with four or five people to bottle up and the rest, but we did what we had to do."

Though the pandemic and lockdowns were difficult to deal with, Mr Caddy said the volunteers worked well to adapt to the new situation.

"We started doing deliveries to people, and we suddenly got a rash of online sales," he said.

"If we can sell directly to the public rather than retail we make more money, so rather than have casks go down the drain because we couldn't get it to pubs, we bottled it up and kept busy.

"Someone said they got the beer delivery quicker then they got served in their local, which was quite nice."

The outdoor area of the tap room was welcomed by drinkers during the pandemic

After lockdowns were lifted, the brewery was able to benefit properly from its on-site tap room, with the shop available for visitors and an outdoor area becoming popular.

Elaine Dennison, who has helped run the bar since 2020, said it was a lifeline for locals, hosting fundraisers for groups such as the Dronfield First Responders as well as providing social relief for drinkers.

"I was on furlough for quite some time, and it became apparent that the tap house was important to people and was a place to be," she said.

"We were open as a shop during the second lockdown and although people couldn't come for a drink, they wanted to have a chat with people and get out, so it became apparent how much people valued it.

"When we could reopen again in April [2021] and we had this outside space it meant we could open when others [in Dronfield] couldn't, and that was when people realised what they had got.

"It had been taken away from them and they appreciated it."

The tap room hosts a number of events, from community fundraisers to folk nights and groups for foragers, knitters and other interests, which Ms Dennison said shows the bond it has with its regulars.

"It's become a popular hub," she said.

"What Covid did is people have got back in touch with their community.

"People invest their time here as well as their money."

Elaine Dennison is the tap room co-ordinator

Despite its local support, the brewery cannot escape some of the recent global problems facing businesses around the world.

Mr Lee said the cost of malt he uses in the beers has risen by £4 to £22 for a 25kg sack, while the cost of chemicals for cleaning have doubled and the electricity bill has risen from £400 a month to more than £1,000.

During 2022 a string of breweries closed their doors, with many citing rising costs, and research by Steve Dunkley, a former brewery owner and blogger, from Beer Nouveau in Manchester has shown dozens have already closed in 2023.

Last year the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) called for more support for breweries struggling with the cost of living, and the issue has also been raised by MPs.

Assessing the scene, Mr Caddy said he hopes the hard work of Drone Valley's dedicated volunteers will allow it to ride out the latest set of challenges it will face.

"The brewery and the tap are both aligned with the community," he said.

"We've got so many people who care and there's a willingness to do things."