From shed to brewery for craft beer firm

A Plymouth craft beer company which started out in a garden shed is looking to bring a 160-year-old brewery in the city back to life.

Bulletproof Brewing will soon be producing beer at the Millbay site of the former Octagon Brewery, which was established in 1861.

Just before Christmas a bespoke brewing set-up arrived in four container lorry loads.

Head brewer and owner Paddy Lawrence, who started brewing in a garden shed in 2017, said: "From day one, since I started Bulletproof Brewing, it's always been my dream to have something like this."

"No words can describe it," Mr Lawrence said.

He and his business partner, Connor Johnson, already have a tap room on Mutley Plain in the city.

As well as setting up a new brewery, they also plan to open a second tap room, kitchen, brew lab and a beer garden at the Millbay site.

They launched a crowdfunding page to help raise some of the cash, but were aware it was a huge gamble.

Figures from audit, tax and advisory firm Mazars showed the number of breweries entering insolvency in the UK had almost doubled.

Sixty-nine went bust in the year to December 2023, compared with 38 in the previous 12 months - a rise of 82%.

Many of those were small craft brewers like Bulletproof.

Mr Lawrence admitted he felt the pressure, but added: "You don't want to look further in your life and say, 'I wish I had done that'.

"What would happen if I had done that and it had been successful?"

Plymouth-based Steel Brew Company was one of the casualties, closing in August 2022 before it was relaunched with new owners.

However, the industry is a close one and Mr Lawrence and Mr Johnson ended up brewing beer for the new owners.

Steel Brew Company now has its own brewer in place and director Neil Carroll said that brought some advantages.

"If you can make your own beer and sell it in the same location, you're cutting out a whole host of middleman costs," he said.

It has still been a steep learning curve for Mr Carroll.

"We wouldn't have thrived if we were singularly focused on the craft ale and craft beer enthusiast," he said.

"We also cater for mass market.

"We do a lot of private bookings, a lot of live music gigs and we have to accept that craft beer isn't for everybody."

However, there are people who are still prepared to pay for what they see as a premium product.

Roam Brewing, another craft brewer in Plymouth, had won awards for some of the beers it supplied to pubs.

It relocated to the Peverell area of the city and opened a tap room five years ago.

The move was so successful that the focus of the business changed.

"This space takes our priority – everything else is secondary now," said managing director and head brewer Jon Clargo.

"We pride ourselves on the quality of our beer and our food and that comes top for us, but the recipe for our success I think is our customers, our community."

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