Chapel Down is all set to take over a 1.6 acre brewery site in Kent. Located in the heart of Ashford, this will be the brewery for its sister beer and cider business, Curious Drinks.
Demand for Curious Drinks is steadily increasing, with sales growth of 50% in 2015, and Curious Brew lager has become the best-selling British craft beer in Majestic Wine's portfolio.
The cider is currently made at Chapel Down winery, while the beers are produced for the company by Leicester-based brewery Everards. With sales on the incline, however, Chapel Down Group has now submitted planning permission for the multi-million pound development, which will include a large-scale brewery and visitor attraction.
Capital for the new development was raised earlier this year in the form of a crowdfunding campaign. The equity campaign, conducted through Seedrs, rasied £1.7m for Curious Drinks. Almost a third of the investments came from Kent, the home of Curious Drinks and the site of the new brewery.
Frazer Thompson, CEO of Chapel Down commented: 'We are delighted to have exchanged contracts on a freehold site that will see the development of the Curious Brewery in Ashford. The Curious Brewery will be a very exciting development for Ashford, for Kent and contemporary British brewing.'
He went on to thank the local community for its support throughout the process. 'We’ve had tremendous support from Ashford Borough Council and are looking forward to working with architects, Guy Hollaway, and developers, U+I, to create something exceptional.'
Located next to Ashford International railway station, the brewery will have prime links to London and Europe — with fast trains running to Kings Cross, and trains to Paris taking around two hours. Easy transport links are set to attract many visitors to the brewery.
