'We feel a bit forgotten about' - Edinburgh breweries react to central belt bar closures

Local Edinburgh breweries are appealing to residents to support local and buy their beer directly to prevent hundreds of pints going to waste.
Inside Campervan BreweryInside Campervan Brewery
Inside Campervan Brewery

The announcement from Nicola Sturgeon that all licensed venues must close from 6pm on Friday October 9 for two weeks has come as a blow to the whole hospitality industry.

Local Edinburgh breweries are now concerned that although they are losing profit, they won’t be considered as part of the sector which needs support.

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Emily Clarke, from the Edinburgh Beer Factory said: “The majority of our customers are pubs and restaurants so that means an immediate loss of most of our business for the next two weeks. This week we had deliveries going out but we’ve had drivers literally turning around after having deliveries rejected.

Inside Campervan BreweryInside Campervan Brewery
Inside Campervan Brewery

“We’ve got pubs ringing us up saying that they’ve got kegs that they now can’t sell and asking what we can do about it but obviously that’s stock that we’ve sold so it’s a tricky situation. A significant amount of our produce is just going to sit here for two weeks and lose shelf-life.”

She added: “Nicola Sturgeon mentioned the £40 million that they are making available to businesses but it isn’t clear where that’s going.

"We need to kind of fight for businesses like ours getting some sort of portion of that, obviously the bars and the restaurants really need the support but there’s also all the suppliers like us who I feel like might get overlooked. It massively affects our business as well.”

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Matt Johnson, co-founder of Pilot said: "I guess it comes down to how long the actual closure will be, if it is for two weeks, obviously it’s not ideal but we’ll hopefully be alright, if they keep extending the closure indefinitely then who knows what’s going to happen.

"People have been really kind by ordering direct for delivery and we’ve got a wee hole in the wall shop that we can sell direct to the public from the brewery so it’s great that we’re able to do that."

He added: “our main concern is for the businesses that we deal with who are going to be struggling even more. We’re worried for them, we’ve got a lot of good relationships with the local bars.”

Giselle Dye, co-founder of Bellfield Brewery also said that they will get by if people continue to support them: “If people could come and buy takeaway beer to enjoy at home, like they did during the first lockdown that would really help. It’s not the same as coming to the beer garden, but people can buy a three pint container to take home or buy a five litre mini cask.”

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She added: “as long as people support us we’re not going to end up sitting on a pile of beer that will be wasted.”

Amelie Tassin, marketing director of Campervan Brewery, reiterated the plea for support saying: “Like a lot of local Edinburgh breweries we have a website so ordering online is definitely the most helpful thing for us, but if you can, please go into bottle shops and get takeaway from the bars and pubs that are offering it for the next couple of weeks.

"Just buy local and that’s what will really help us.”

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