Brewery near Crowborough wants licence in bid to ‘keep company going’

On Wednesday (August 19), a Wealden District Council licensing panel considered an application from the Good Things Brewing Company to sell alcohol at its premises at Rendlye Farm, near Boarshead and Eridge.

During the hearing, councillors heard from brewery owner Chris Drummond that the proposals were intended to ensure the business could recover post-Covid, by selling alcohol (both online and over the counter) from an on-site store and at a purpose-built tap room.

He said: “We didn’t plan to open to the public, as the neighbours are well aware, when we first started this brewery.

“The issue is that Covid-19 hit and I have many local staff with jobs we’ve provided. I had a choice to make, that choice was based on trying to do something to keep the company going. 

“The choice we made was to put in Temporary Event Notices (TENs), to see if there was a business model where people would come to us and buy beer directly, [to drink] both on and off site.

“It was off sales at first, strictly within the gathering restrictions of Covid and they really took off.

“It meant I didn’t have to fire anyone, let anyone go or change the structure of our company and the heavy investment, houses and family’s lives that would be put at risk if this company goes.”

In all the company secured five TENs covering alcohol sales from the site on 15 days.

At one of these events on June 11, the meeting papers say, the council received a complaint about people drinking on the premises and gathering in breach of Covid lockdown regulations.  At this time licensed premises were only allowed to supply off-sales and no consumption was allowed at, or in the vicinity of, such premises.

Mr Drummond denied that the premises had breached lockdown regulations, but said the business had closed early that day as they had been busier than expected.

He said he did not expect the business to be that busy under normal circumstances.

During the meeting Mr Drummond also offered new licensing conditions, which were more restrictive than those in the written application.

These new conditions sought shorter hours than initially applied for with on-sales ( to be consumed on site) to be limited to Friday and Saturday and Sundays only. This would be from 12pm to 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays and until 6pm on Sundays.

The additional conditions would also restrict all  on-sales to waited table service, i.e  no standing drinkers. As part of this, Mr Drummond also offered to limit the number of drinkers at each table and the number of tables being served.

The change was partly as the proposals had proven to be controversial with neighbours, including the Bowles Rock outdoor activity centre, which borders the site.

Helen Ogden, a spokesman for the Bowles Trust, said: “Although the proposal reduces the number of days potential disturbance would apply I don’t think it addresses the root of our objections. 

“We were very supportive of the establishment of a microbrewery on the site of our closest neighbour. Under the terms of the conditions applied to the planning permission we felt that a new rural industry – the microbrewery – could co-exist, positively and helpfully alongside a long-established charity which provides outdoor education for young people.

“Even understanding what Mr Drummond has said about these being unusual times, which seems to be the explanation for practically everything at the moment, the experience that Bowles has had since the microbrewery opened and in particular the events held under the auspices of Temporary Events Notices has not borne out the expectation of good co-existence.

“It has been intrusive, it has been disruptive and it has been disappointing, to such an extent that we must object to the current application.”

Ms Ogden added that a licenced premises in close proximity could affect the Bowles Trust’s ability to safeguard children under their care and “expose them to potential harm”.

Concerns had also been raised by Wealden District Council’s development management team, as the brewery’s existing planning permission limited the hours the business could operate and prohibited retail sales on site.

Mr Drummond said the brewery intended to put in a planning application to change this  following the outcome of the hearing.

Officers reiterated that planning conditions sit separately to the licensing process, so the more restrictive condition would apply. In other words, being granted the licence would not allow the business to disregard the planning conditions.

After hearing from all the speakers – including another neighbour who objected to the scheme and Wealden ward councillor Keith Obbard – the panel concluded the meeting to discuss their decision in private. 

A formal decision is expected to be issued sometime within five days of the meeting.

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