Member Event with Alex Brodie, Hawkshead Brewery

As a foreign correspondent with the BBC, Alex Brodie had seen it all. Now running a business brewing beer amid the spectacular scenery of South Lakeland he could be said to have it all too.

Alex, founder of multi award-winning Hawkshead Brewery, is a leading light in an exciting and flourishing industry of independent, indigenous, real ale brewers that are bucking the trend of closing pubs and declining sales seen elsewhere in the hospitality sector. In other words, he’s his own good news story.

After more than 30 years in journalism - and with nil experience in business - Alex’s passion for a pint pulled him toward a new beginning.

He invested £40k to start the brewery as a business, as opposed to a hobby, in an old barn just outside Hawkshead in 2002. It now employs 20 people, turns over £2.5m and is based in stylish premises with a beer hall and acclaimed restaurant in a converted wood turning mill in Staveley, near Kendal.

He emphasises that the business’s success is in no small part due to his home-grown team, who have learned the trade together.

But bursting at the seams he is at a crossroads where the Brewery is at capacity, producing around 20,000 litres of beer a week in the Lakeland range, speciality collection and limited editions that are sent all over the North and, most recently, to Italy.

Join us to raise a glass to this passionate entrepreneur at what promises to be an entertaining and insightful event.

This event is free for members to attend. Members' guests cost £25 (+VAT).