West Country based brewer and pub operator Wickwar Wessex is planning to double the number of managed houses it operates and begin building a tenanted estate in the coming year, M&C has learnt.
The company, headed up by industry veterans Mike Flavin, Ian Frost and Michael Watts who formerly worked together at Avebury Taverns before selling to Punch in 2005, has acquired its sixth site on Bristol’s Gloucester Road to open as the Gloucester Road Ale House & Kitchen in January.
The Gloucester Road Ale House & Kitchen will serve Wickwar Wessex real ales as well as craft beers from guest brewers. The pub will serve a menu of British food created from locally-sourced produce.
There are currently five pubs in the managed house division, which the directors believe they can comfortably double in the next year.
Flavin, Frost and Watts want to create a vertically integrated brewing company complete with a tenanted estate and are actively looking to make a group acquisition to begin building this in the south west.
They said although the tenanted model is “not in vogue” they believe the model is a solid one but in need of recalibration.
Watts said Wickwar wants to build partnerships with its customers in the on-trade and its suppliers for a more congruent working relationship that benefits all parties and customers.
Wickwar Wessex has rebranded its range of beers for the off- and on-trade and changed its name from Wickwar Brewery.
Over the past year the company has evolved its branding to a black and gold colour scheme and includes the story of each beer on its bottles as part of its ‘tall tales’ schema.
The brewery brews a core range of four “real craft ales” and seasonal specials under its Brewer’s Choice range. The premium core range includes award winning Bob amber ale and the newly added Falling Star golden ale that was created to cater to the revived taste for lighter ales.
