Arran Brewery, the company formed by the merger of two Scottish brewers, has secured a site in central Glasgow for its first craft beer bar and told M&C report it wants to open “as many as we can”, and is currently exploring options for openings in Spain.
The firm hopes to raise £10m to extend its brewing facilities and secure bars. Managing director Gerald Michaluk said funds are being sought via Crowd Investments, which is a similar process to BrewDog’s share issue and has a limit of Euro5m for each round of investment.
He said the first £1m would be invested at the Arran brewery and the second £1m spent on bottling facilities, with additional funds spent on the rollout plan.
Michaluk said the company hopes to open its new Arran on Hope Street, a leasehold site located on the corner of Hope Street and Regent Street, in February. It will serve 25 different craft beers and 18 ales.
“Our intention is to open as many pubs as we can,” said Michaluk. “We have a rollout plan.”
He said he wanted to open in “old university towns” in England. In terms of international ambitions, Michaluk said he has been looking at a large site near San Antonio in Spain.
“I’ve been out looking in Spain,” he said. “We have looked at several sites; mostly people who want far too much money for them.”
He said freeholds are preferable but more difficult to secure. “We would prefer to buy. In the current market prices are very good but people are holding onto their properties.
“A lot of people bought at the top of the market and are not willing to sell at a realistic price, but are willing to do lease deals at a realistic price.”
Earlier this week it was announced that Isle of Arran Brewery and Isle of Skye Brewing Company are to merge, creating Arran Brewery with a combined turnover of £1.2m. The merger will formerly take place in January, and the company aims to double turnover each year and increase capacity 10-fold.
Michaluk bought Isle of Arran Brewery, which was founded in 2000, out of administration in 2008 for an undisclosed sum.
