Craft ale producers, Anarchy Brew Co., has been announced as the latest tenant to join a vibrant hub of diverse entrepreneurial businesses at the once traditional engineering-focussed Benfield Business Park in Newcastle.
Asset managed by M7 Real Estate, with marketing by the industrial team at Knight Frank Newcastle, the business park has undergone a complete transformation over the last decade.
Knight Frank’s marketing strategy of widening the appeal of the park to a broader range of occupiers, including those from the leisure sector, has significantly changed the site’s fortunes.
The park has seen continued investment which has helped attract occupiers from the fitness, leisure and training sectors as well as production, wholesale and charity operators.
Anarchy Brew Co. is an award-winning, small brewer which has taken 11,000 sq. ft. of space to house its new brewery and tap room with a bar that will open to the public.
The business, which was started by husband and wife team Simon and Dawn Miles in 2012, now has 11 employees and is booming on the back of a buoyant craft ales market.
The firm, which sells its beers throughout the UK and exports worldwide, outgrew its base at Whitehouse Farm Centre in Morpeth and started looking for new premises.
Dawn Miles, business owner and director at Anarchy Brew Co., comments on why the firm opted for Benfield Business Park: “Most of our employees live in Newcastle and when we saw the building, which is over 100 years old, we just fell in love with it. It’s full of history with lots of character and all on one level which is important for the efficiency of producing our ales. And the other main deciding factor was that it has 24-hour security personnel on site and lots of CCTV.”
The letting to Anarchy Brew comes on the heels of a letting to drinks entrepreneur Jules Quinn and her business Popaball. The company, which sells filled, flavoured bubbles that can be added to cold drinks, cocktails and Prosecco, recently expanded its presence at Benfield, taking an additional 6,500 sq. ft.
The single biggest letting on the site is to Card Trix which took 69,000 sq. ft. in 2017 to house its family entertainment spaces – Inflataspace and Fun Shack.
St Oswald’s Hospice is now also on site after taking 3,000 sq. ft. to house an office and warehouse.
Mark Proudlock, partner of logistics and industrial agency at Knight Frank, said of Benfield:
“It’s the perfect business park for companies taking their first step from managed workspace to larger premises with a varied mix of unit sizes offering further capacity for expansion as companies grow.
“Benfield is diversifying rapidly from its historical base as a manufacturing and engineering park to a business, training and leisure hub offering a mix of studio, workshop and storage space appropriate for a range of uses.”
Anarchy Brew’s most successful product is Blonde Star which is a popular house beer in many Newcastle bars. At the 2018 World Beer Awards it won ‘Best Pale Ale’ for Urban Assault, ‘Best Gluten Free Beer’ for Exile and ‘Best IPA’ for its Antivenom beer. They have just struck a deal with high street giant, M&S, to stock some of their ales.
The company plans to brew during the week and open its tap room to the public on weekends.
