Amity Brew Co looking to hire more staff and continue growth after securing funding

Launched during the pandemic, Amity Brew Co is a 2,500 sq ft brewery and bar with outdoor paved beer garden situated at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley.

The team started producing beers in June 2020, moving their launch forward so that they could build a community locally and within the craft beer scene before physically opening doors to the brewery.

It currently employs eight people, with plans to employ more, including a brewery assistant.

The company has been supported by AD:VENTURE, a business growth programme for early stage businesses in North and West Yorkshire.

Launched in 2017, AD:VENTURE provides dedicated funded support to eligible pre-start, young and new business who have strong growth ambitions.

Amity initially applied for a £75,000 start-up loan from AD:VENTURE partners, The Business Enterprise Fund.

After seeing growth early on despite the pandemic, they applied for a further £40,000 grant for investment into the business.

Working with an AD:VENTURE business advisor, Amity Brew Co used some of the £40,000 to match fund their AD:VENTURE grant application, securing an additional £15,000.

The grant allowed Amity to invest in new canning equipment and helped bring packaging in-house.

The aim is to offer a canning service to other small breweries and take on three more staff by the end of the year.

As well as the grant from AD:VENTURE, Amity has had advice from a business adviser and other support.

Verity Clarke, communications director at Amity Brew Co, said: "Our start-up journey has not been an easy one, so we have relished in receiving external support from AD:VENTURE.

"We're still a very small team and we value the courses, training, networking and general cheerleading from the AD:VENTURE team. It means so much to us that we're being recognised and supported."

The Crowdfunder campaign launched on February 14 with an initial target of £15,000, which was soon surpassed, as was the new stretch target of £30,000.

Donations are still coming in.

The team are exploring how they can maximise their offer to customers with the extra cash from the campaign, which runs until March 11.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, deputy leader and executive member for economy, culture and education at Leeds City Council, said: “Amity’s incredible success shows that it is possible to set up and grow a business even in these difficult times if you have the right support in place.

“What they have created is an amazing business which has proved really popular, and it looks like they have a brilliant future ahead of them.”

The crowdfunder comes after the company was featured in the Beer52 Yorkshire box with 140,000 cans, secured a top listing as a UK top 100 start up, created eight jobs and partnered with well-known breweries Thornbridge, Vocation and Northern Monk plus food brands Hilltop and the Marshmallowist.

Co-founder of Amity Brew Co, Richard Degnan, said: “The pandemic brought its challenges but the beauty of our startup team is that we are nimble and willing to adapt. Planning our expansion has got the whole team very excited as we can really flex our creativity and produce even more exciting beers for the local and beery community.”

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