Brewing up a Storm
Damien Pestell meets the Brewing Brothers, Ned and Charlie Braxton, to find out about their business [ad]ventures which have culminated in the new Brewery Tap Room on the Ridge.
Some businesses are the result of careful planning, but for Ned and Charlie, it could be more a case of learning by mistakes, a good dose of luck – and having a lot of fun along the way. It all started when at 19 and 21 respectively, Charlie and Ned took on The Lamb Inn, Wartling, bought by their father. It was at this stage that the fun part and ‘learning by mistakes’ was most prominent.
Charlie says: “We spent half of our time apologising.” Easy for him, he says, as he wasn’t good at school and was always apologising.
As time went on, they got more serious and it was much harder work, particularly running as an full inn with six bedrooms: “It was a killer, getting up at 7am and going to bed at 2am in the morning.”
But then a trip to America changed everything. It was there that they came across the craft beer scene – and “were blown away by it”. In the US, breweries were becoming bars, they explained: “you’d walk into a full brewery, and you’d sit amongst all these tanks … so impressive.”
The dream turned into reality, and The Imperial in Queens Road opened in May 2016 with the microbrewery on full display. After three years, things were going so well they were looking beyond the pub to buy premises for automated canning and more brewing capacity.
Then Covid struck and it was a case of ‘on yer bike’ – but not pushbikes. They dusted off their motorbikes and started to deliver, motivated by the big bill that was coming their way for the planned expansion.
Surviving the pandemic enabled them to open a brewery at their new premises on the Ridge – as well as opening another venue on the seafront at The Courtyard. “We would have ended up kicking ourselves if we didn’t take it.”
Another piece of luck enabled them to relocate the brewery to bigger premises at the same site on the Ridge three months ago “The last bit of expansion for the time being.” And now the Brewery Tap Room is up and running.
And what keeps them going? “We’re really rooted here. We really like Hastings as a town. We’ve always had such good local support. And long may it continue.”
• You can hear the full story in the latest HIP Biz (Episode 15) on Spotify or Anchor.
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