WHATS THIS ALL ABOUT??? 

The Indiegogo website suggested that in this section, we introduce ourselves. But frankly, if you’re reading this, you probably know one of us – either Matt, Nick or Jason. And you hopefully know our beers, our passions and our goals. But we will pretend for a bit that you’re new to us….

We are Farr Brew! Matt and Nick are old hands and have been running the business for 8 years now. Jason is the cool young one that makes beer whilst owning a head of hair that vastly improves the poor batting averages Matt and Nick provide on the follicle front.

We have been making great traditional ales for those years, plus, with Jason’s impact, we now have a fantastic range of true “craft” – whatever that is. We make everything from great traditional bitters at 3.6% – trad enough to please any sock and sandal CAMRA member – all the way up to a 6% NEIPA – packed with enough hops to knock those socks and sandals straight off.

Our current home is going to be demolished we are told. We all know that the world needs more offices and as such we wholly support and understand this decision (some slight sarcasm may be in place there….). So we are on the move! 

We are in advanced talks with some really lovely folk in a location a mere 12 minutes from the current HQ. We of course had hoped to stay in Wheathampstead but this new location offers us real opportunities going forward – increased production, better hospitality opportunities and much more. Plus a landlord that seems to really “buy in” to our long term goals.

But moving is costly – and thus this campaign!

What We Need & What You Get

In the guidance notes it defines how we are to sell to you our business – how we can all benefit. So this is simple….

What we need – money! We love it! We spend most nights rolling around on the stuff! Whilst drenched in champers and caviar (unfortunately that’s not quite the case – despite what many think, we operate at very small margins since covid / Putin / cost of living etc etc and simply don’t have the cash in the bank to fund the move – we need circa £80k to move).

What you get – Beer!! Or beer related stuff. Or experiences, or love, or beer. Did I mention beer? But you also get to feel that you have genuinely helped a business that, we hope, has done a bit for a fair few in our area. (more of that later!). 

The Impact

The notes in this section are pretty personally impactful…. they ask why it matters – why we are doing this campaign. And its this really…. 

Farr Brew is a lot more than just a brewery. We employ 110 people. They are all relying on this campaign to work. We love every one of them. It is our duty to ensure the future of our lovely staff. Hopefully you’ve been to one of our pubs and have seen how much our wonderful people care about your experience. We want to ensure they continue to have a great future with us. And of course we want to ensure you have a great time in our locations too!

Farr Brew was a silly little project that Nick (why am I referring to myself in the third person??) started. He roped his mate Matt in to do sales (Nick described one of the early beers as “run of the mill” in his first sales meeting!). Jason came on later and changed the direction of travel. We now own 6 pubs and have won dozens of local and nationwide awards. We will not ever be beaten – that may sound a bit ballsie, but we make no apologies for that – if we face tough challenges, if we are beaten, we get up and do better next time. We three can do great things together. We can lead this business to huge things.  If you can help, we will deliver. For our staff, for our customers and for the betterment of beer!

Risks & Challenges

So – this section asks us what could stop our success. Of course, hurricanes, pestilence and famine could well stop us. But we’ve come through covid (that was a biggie!), we have decent deals in place for utilities (another fun surprise – to be fair, our deals were more luck than judgement but hell we will accept a bit of luck once in a while!) and we continue to deal positively with the cost of living crisis. Despite prices rising, we continue to fight tooth and nail to keep our pint prices down so that you, the customer can enjoy a fairly priced beverage.

We have cut business units when needed (Goodbye The Bull – a place in our heart will always be in Whitwell), we have invested heavily in locations for the long term (the tipis at the Ele are always a joy). We can be business minded when needed. Sometimes running a business hurts. But to protect our staff these hard decisions and investments must occur. 

However, love must be at the core – hospitality should never be run purely on numbers. Our little micropub The Reading Rooms will never make us much money, but we will fight tooth and nail to ensure that our wonderful manager Asti has a pub home forever more. (and we would highly recommend  the amazing pork pies provided on a friday night! – all from the local Butcher – Brimarks). A mix of sentiment and financial awareness is at our core. But there’s no point doing any of this without the heart and the care that we try to imbue in every pint and experience.

A Summary…..

We have loved the last 7 years. We hope you’ve loved what we have offered too. All we care about is folk having a good time. Eating some lovely grub, drinking a top pint. Its kind of that simple.

We are not looking for something for nothing (though would totally accept donations – I mean, we aren’t idiots!!)….. all our crowdfund options provide something for most pockets. Some lovely things, some lovely experiences. We are not a charity and do not expect to be treated like one. We want you to have something lovely from your hard earned cash. So take a look at our offers and hopefully something will take your fancy. 

I’d also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you – to all those who have bought a pint, had a burger, brought the kids to the play fort – whatever it may have been. Getting a smile on a kid’s face or seeing an old boy enjoying a sup on a pint of Lock In – every moment has made us happy. Lets carry on. With your help we can.

Other Ways You Can Help

Some people just can’t contribute – times are not exactly easy! We totally understand and feel it too. So if you read this and think “well, I just cannot afford it right now” – we get it and, frankly just thank you for reading. But there are things you can do for free that could help so much. Simply pop to your Facebook and share this site. Or tell your friends and family. And maybe get them to share too.

Over everything else – thank you for reading. I know I’m way way way too wordy – my colleagues tell me off for every post / email / message I do. So I am sure its been a bit of a journey to get down the bottom! 

So – well, nice one. And a big cheers!

p.s  The Indiegogo website made us do the FAQ section for some reason….. we struggled a little… you may be able to tell….