Fownes Brewing Co, set up in Upper Gornal, in the West Midlands, by brothers James and Tom Fownes, has ceased trading.
The multi-award-winning brewery started out at the rear of the Jolly Crispin pub, but in 2019 they moved to new premises in Brierley Hill. A year after, they took on their own pub, the Old Royal Oak in Burton upon Trent. But then Covid came along.
“Despite diversifying into bottling and spending many an hour delivering our wares far and wide during lockdown and beyond, 2020 and 2021 were almost impossibly tough for a cask beer business,” the brothers said on social media.
“We managed to survive those initial trials, but things haven’t improved enough over the last two years. According to research commissioned by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), over half of regular pub-goers have not returned to the bar since the lockdowns. We certainly saw this reflected in the frequency of orders from existing customers and the reluctance of new customers to take risks on brands unknown to them.
“Even if that hadn’t been enough, we all then saw significant increases in fuel, utilities, and malt prices, combined with a cost of living crisis. This only reinforced a marketplace where pubs and customers struggled to pay a price for cask beer that reflected the increased costs of production and delivery.”
Although it’s the end of the road for Fownes, their beers are set to be brewed by their former brewery assistant, Tim Hibbert, in Kdderminster.
