Sussex-based Dark Star Brewing Co has announced that it’s looking to take its brewery to the “next level”, citing acquisitions as a potential route to solving its existing production constraints.
The news comes as MCA has learnt that the company’s managing director Paul Reed is to leave the business next month after announcing his retirement.
Ona replacement for Reed, a company spokesman said: “We’re considering our options right now, but the existing board is a strong one and will take a view in the coming months.”
Having moved to a new 16,400 sqft site in Partridge Green in 2010, the brewery said it quickly “chewed-up the capacity the site offered” and have spent over 18 months searching for another new site to fulfil the demand placed upon it.
Nick Pyle, director at Dark Star, said: “We’ve invested a great deal of time looking at new sites both leasehold and freehold without success. Whilst that search will continue, we’ll also be looking to explore the acquisition route to fast track our progress.
“Back in 2010, we thought we’d ‘future-proofed’ ourselves, but we got it wrong and the demand for the beer has far outstripped what we can brew and has meant that we’ve been unable to pursue some interesting brewing ideas and developments.”
Whilst the brewery site search continues, Dark Star are growing their pub estate at pace, opening The Anchor Tap in Horsham back in February, with The Lockhart Tavern in Haywards Heath due to open in October and others in the pipeline.
