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[UPDATE June 2023] The option to purchase the brewery and the bar independently is now on the table. Get in touch with us for more specifics.
Introduction.
Important note! Our business is NOT closed, we are still here, it’s business as NORMAL!
Accidental Brewery was established in 2018 and has quickly become a very popular destination for craft beer drinkers in Lancaster and further afield. Some customers tell us they have specifically arrived in Lancaster to come to see our bar and taste Accidental Brewery’s beers.
We were the first craft brewery in Lancaster specialising in this type of beer. Since 2018, a few bars in town have begun to sell more craft beer which makes Lancaster a good destination for craft beer drinkers. There is a beer trail map for visitors to the city which can be accessed online or by a map which every bar in town has copies of.
Lancaster is situated in the North West of England with a varied population of approximately 149,000 people in the district. It has excellent rail links, the main West Coast train line runs between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh. It takes just 2.5 hours to travel from London and 2 hours to either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Lancaster, being situated on the main West Coast line also means customers can travel easily from the Lake District, Preston, Manchester and Ulverston.
There are two universities creating an influx of young people each academic year of around 32,000, (students, post grads and PHD). Accidental Brewery has established good links, especially with Lancaster University having provided beer for their annual beer festivals, hosting private functions for society groups at our bar and working with them on research projects in engineering.
The business comprises of a fully equipped leasehold bar business, based in Lancaster and a freehold brewery business, based in Morecambe.
The business has a very active social media presence with almost 2,800 Instagram followers and nearly 3,500 Facebook followers, this has led to the bar having a steady flow of regular customers.
Lancaster Bar.
The bar is located behind Dalton Square and close to Lancaster Town Hall, it is on the edge of the ‘Canal Quarter‘ in the conservation area around Dalton Square.
The ‘Canal Quarter’ is a part of the city which is currently undergoing proposals for regeneration. Accidental Brewery is situated in a converted stables building, dating back to the late 1800’s, once belonging to the big Georgian buildings in Dalton Square.
The building is in good condition and has been an ideal building to rent. Recently, all the fire security has been updated and a sophisticated, wireless fire alarm panel has been installed by the landlord. The bar is located upstairs and consists of a large bar with space for food preparation, a small kitchen area and a cold room for beers. There is seating for 30 people with additional standing room and a toilet.
The bar is fully furnished and has a temperature controlled cool room with line cooler, 10 Intertap flow control taps and 2 cask pumps (with capacity and pipes for 4).
There are two large fridges for take-out beers and one under counter fridge. There are large TV screens upstairs and downstairs to display the bar menus for customers.
A recent conversion to the downstairs has provided two extra snug rooms. These have proved popular with customers and have been used for private functions. There is also a toilet, basic kitchen, two storerooms, one of which could be turned into a bottle/can takeaway shop. Full planning permission exists for the building and also the business has permanent planning permission for a ‘Yarden’, beer garden, to pop up in the Spring and Summer, by renting four car parking spaces at the rear with seating for an additional 50+ with gazebos. This outdoor area can be rented from Lancaster City Council between April and December.
Having the outside space, encourages customers to come to us as in the Summer there are not many bars with outdoor seating areas in Lancaster. The Yarden is very popular as it’s covered and tastefully decorated with benches, planters and fairy lights and in a quiet corner of the car park. We also have space for street food vendors to come along, set up and serve food.
It lends itself to outdoor live music and is a great asset for us during Lancaster Music Festival where we have bands performing for our customers. During 2022 Music festival, we had 11 x 6 person benches, 4 x 2 person tables and every area of standing room was occupied as well as a street food vendor from 5pm until 11pm.
Whilst we have been renting the outdoor space, we have organised a few private parties and supplied food.
In September 2022, we were able to host an evening wedding reception completely outdoors with a food vendor serving up wraps and Mexican food for the couple’s guests.
Currently, the bar is only open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday so there is much scope for opening more days and for longer hours. We feel there is room within the building to prepare and serve food in a small capacity. Every night we are open we have an arrangement with the local pizza takeaway, that our customers can order pizza with their beers and Aquila will deliver the pizzas to the customer’s table from around the corner, this proves very popular.
We have held special events in the bar in the past – Curry nights, tasting sessions with grazing trays, brewery talks by longer standing breweries, bottle sharing and trips out with our customers.
We have organised trips to Manchester and Leeds with brewery tours included and most recently, a gin tour to the farm who supply us with our artisan, award winning gin.
These trips are an integral part of our business as it builds up clientele and encourages a community feel between our customers. In 2020, this was shown as we launched a crowdfunding scheme to help buy parts of our brewery.
We have collaborated with local businesses over the last four years to create interest in what we do. From baking artisan bread with beer to coffee being imported and roasted by a local company made into beer.
We have worked with Brewdog on several occasions. We have launched some of their brand new beers in our bar for them and were one of four breweries and bars to be chosen across the whole of the UK. In August 2020, we were asked to enter Brewdog Collabfest, held every year amongst Brewdog bars nationwide.
We teamed up with Carlisle Brewdog and made a recipe using chocolate, cherry and tonka beans. Our beer was sent to forty Brewdog bars nationwide. In October 2020, the festival took place and we were voted, top UK brewery and 3rd overall out of 79 breweries! Brewdog are still very much on the radar and have asked us to do other work with them.
Morecambe Brewery.
The brewery is situated in Morecambe, a 3 minute walk from the promenade and is located in an old fishing industry building dating back to the 1800’s. The building has a ground floor footprint of approx 180m2 with a 1st floor of approx 75m2
The brewery consists of a Brewiks 500 with 3 conical, pressurised fermenters. Capacity is between 5 and 6 hL of beer per batch. The equipment is of high quality and was imported from Slovenia in December of 2020 and is in excellent condition.
There is an additional pilot brewery with 2 x 150L conical, pressurised fermenters from SS Brewtech. All tanks have glycol cooling with pipe work and 2 glycol coolers.
The brewery is more than sufficient to brew enough beer for the bar in Lancaster and future tap room in Morecambe. There will also be plenty of capacity to sell the beer nationwide through existing distribution.
The brewery has a temperature controlled cool room for storage of kegs and cans.
A twin head canning machine/filler completes the brewery.
The brewery is small enough to be operated entirely by one brewer.
The building has a separate space for a tap room (subject to planning permission) or the possibility to hold a small number of events using TENs.
The brewery comprises of three sections; as you walk in there is a separate space which would make a great tap room, concrete floors, brick and plastered walls all would be adequate for a decent sized tasting room/ tap room.
This part of the building has a first floor which has a vaulted roof with exposed beams. 2 Velux windows and a covered window and loading bay.
The windows are South facing and create a lot of light and warmth during the day.
This room has potential for extra seating, being a good size for a small gathering or even a wedding function.
The middle section of the building downstairs is entered from the first section by large doors, these swing open to reveal a brewhouse housing our Brewiks brewery. There is more than adequate space to brew, keep beer refrigerated and to hold brewery tours in the future.
The brewery stands in it’s own waterproof bunded area. The floor is concrete with high quality Ucrete coating and drainage. There is sufficient space to upgrade in future to more fermenters or taller ones if required.
There is also a barrel aging section with some oak barrels. Within the brewing area, there is an industrial sink and large worktop and cupboards which have been recently installed.
Part of this middle section has a large attic area which can be used for storage.
The third and final part of the building is accessed by a heavy duty steel door. This leads you in to the main storage area of the brewery. Here, there is also a brand new kitchen and toilet area, that has been renovated just a few months ago. This part of the building was originally an area where Morecambe Bay Shrimps were boiled, peeled and potted in butter – an old delicacy Morecambe is renowned for. These were then sold from the back door of the building.
Over the last three summers, Morecambe’s Visitor footfall has increased. Currently, there is a large renovation project taking place on a Victorian theatre on the sea front, which has begun hosting a variety of entertainers and bands, this has encouraged more visitors. There is also a huge project that has been given planning permission last year and received 50 million pounds of funding from the governments levelling up fund. Eden Project Morecambe, have proposed building a tourist destination, re-imagining Morecambe as a 21st Century seaside resort by ‘inspiring wonder and a connection with the natural world’, the centre will be made up of four giant shell like structures and is due to come to fruition in 2025. It is hoped this will bring thousands of additional visitors to Morecambe and surrounding areas.
Between Carnforth railway station and Heysham, there are a number of Craft Beer bars and this has become a route which many people find themselves taking. There is a bus that travels along the promenade which people get on and off to stop for drinks along the way. We were intending our brewery being one of the stops on this route as we are very close to the promenade.
In 2020, we were asked by Booths to supply the local Lancaster store, with our beers in cans. Booths is a local North West grocer which specialises in quality, local produce. This increased our profile and the supply chain still exists with the Lancaster store. Booths are renowned for quality products and we even had an article introducing our beers on their website. The next step would be to supply other Booths supermarkets as far North as The Lake District and as far South as Manchester.
Throughout our existence as a brewery, we have strived to produce quality craft beer. We care very much about the environment and have looked into ways of making our business more sustainable. We pride ourselves that the beer served in our bar, travels a very small distance from brewing to drinking. All our kegs are recycled and our mash is collected by a local farmer who feeds it to his animals. We were looking forward to our customers being able to taste our beers directly from the brewery in Morecambe.
The Future…
Over the last four years, we have built the Accidental Brewery brand, to be recognised as an excellent Northern brewery, producing great craft beer. We are currently ranked as one of the top 10 breweries in the UK as rated by drinkers, using the international Untappd app.
Accidental Brewery is a successful, ready made business. It is ideally suited for new owners to take the reins and continue its success.
