NOAH Beers, the company which trades as the WEST beer hall and microbrewery on Glasgow Green, has unveiled plans to invest £4 million in a new brewery in the same building as its current facility.
Owner Petra Wetzel revealed the kit for the brewery, which will occupy a 15,000 square foot site in the former Templeton's Carpet Factory, is currently being assembled in Germany.
The new facility, which will complement its existing microbrewery at the building, is scheduled to be up and running by April or May, funded by a mix of retained profits, external investment, some bank support and a Scottish Government Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation grant.
Ms Wetzel turned to the project after plans to develop a brewery in a former cooperage in Port Dundas in the north of the city were blocked by Scottish Water.
Having invested £200,000 on professional fees, Ms Wetzel conceded she had been demoralised after being forced to walk away from that project. However, she said the disappointment has been outweighed by the chance to invest in WEST's "spiritual home" in the east end of Glasgow.
Speaking as new accounts show Noah Beers made a retained profit of £110,814 for the year ended December 31, Ms Wetzel said: "What we would have done up at the cooperage we are just doing on a slightly smaller scale at Templeton, so we are keeping everything under the same roof.
"And actually, maybe in hindsight, that is a much more manageable thing for us to do, because we are then keeping the same team in the same place, rather than divvying it up between beer hall and brewery."
Ms Wetzel revealed the company has just secured planning permission and a building warrant to develop a restaurant in one of two adjacent units in the former Halt Bar in Glasgow's west end.
WEST, which has been running a pop up bar in the other unit since July, aims to complete a staged refurbishment of the restaurant and bar by spring 2015, when the whole premises will be launched as WEST on the Corner.
The company, meanwhile, has identified a site in Edinburgh as it looks to expand into the east of the country. It is currently examining the feasibility of the site, where it will look to combine a bar, restaurant and microbrewery.
In its last financial year, Noah Beers doubled turnover and saw profits rise even higher, though Ms Wetzel declined to give figures. The company sells beers such as St Mungo and WEST 4 to venues such as Gleneagles and Turnberry, though most of its sales come through its bar on Glasgow Green.
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