Scotland’s Fierce Beer Co has opened its first venue south of the border, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
It has signed a long lease on a bar on St Thomas Street and has employed the former tenant’s furloughed bar staff, as well as recruiting a further three employees.
Situated over two floors and featuring a large outdoor seating area, Fierce Beer Manchester serves the brewery’s own and others’ small-batch beers across 15 taps, as well as offering beer flights and its own range of craft spirits.
The venue also offers food and, as such, is very much open for business, despite the current tier 3 covid-19 restrictions in place in Manchester.
Fierce Beer began in 2015 as a homebrew business based in the Aberdeen kitchen of its founders, before they opened the city’s first microbrewery just 12 months later. In 2018, the craft beer specialists opened their first bar in Edinburgh.
The growing company is run by ‘recipe masterminds’ managing director Dave Grant and operations director Dave McHardy, who admit being inspired by the rapid rise of fellow Scottish craft beer specialists BrewDog.
Dave Grant said: “We’re delighted with our new Northern Quarter bar. Feedback from customers has been fantastic so far, and we’re really excited about the future. Having two bars north of the border, it has always been our intention to expand our operations into England.
Fierce Beer founders Dave Grant and Dave McHardy
“While these are challenging times for the hospitality industry, we are looking to the future and hope to continue our expansion. We are already looking for the right premises in Newcastle, as well as other key cities such as Leeds and York.
“The culture of craft beer is all about appreciating the diverse range of flavours on offer. It’s about quality over quantity, and we’ve had no issues implementing the various safety measures required for covid-19.
“We have already invested a lot across our three venues to ensure they are covid-19 safe, including outdoor seating, flexi-glass screens, clear signage, and all the necessary PPE for staff.
“It’s an exciting time for Fierce Beer and we’ve come a long way from our early days when the BrewDog team shared their advice and experience with us. It was such a huge help to get our craft beer business off the ground, and we’re very proud of the growth we’ve achieved, with ambitious plans for the future.”
The company’s first property deal in England was supported by legal advice from the real estate team at commercial law firm Muckle LLP. Partner and head of the real estate team, Jonathan Combe, said: “We were delighted to act on behalf of the Fierce Beer team, and the transaction moved very smoothly and quickly.
“It is refreshing to see this craft beer company continue to show confidence in the market, passion and ambition to continue their growth strategy, and we wish them every success with their future plans.”
