A BETTER BREW

Way back in 1849, the company began as William Everard and Thomas Hull ventured into brewing by purchasing Wilmot & Co’s brewery.
Talk us through your history leading to where the company is today.

Everards Brewery was founded in 1849 by William Everard and is proud to remain an independent family business.
Based in Leicestershire, Everards state-of-the-art breweries, Beer Hall and shop sits on 70 acres of beautiful green space, named ‘Everards Meadows’ that they have opened to the public to enjoy. A traffic free route with quality cycling and pedestrian walkways connects the site to Leicester via the National Cycle Network. Home to an abundance of wildlife it is a great place to enjoy a pint or two!
Two breweries are located within the Everards building, the main brewery and a small batch brewery, enabling them to brew a wide range of interesting beers for their pubs and Beer Hall exclusives for drinkers to enjoy.
Everards brew a range of cask ales, craft beers and a selection of limited-edition and small batch brews, including local favourite Tiger Copper Ale, first brewed in 1972 and the official beer of the Leicester Tigers and Leicester Riders.
Everards has over 150 pubs across the Midlands in a mixture of busy town centre sites and picturesque villages. Many of these pubs have been in the estate for years thanks to their long heritage and commitment to maintaining properties. People are at the heart of the business and Everards are proud to work with fantastic independent business owners who run Everards pubs on a three-year tenancy agreement.
The business has continually evolved under the guidance of the family and it is about to move into its 6th generation of active family involvement.

How important was the opening of Everards Meadows in 2019 to the business and how has it helped to create a community hub within the area?

Everards sought a brand new home that worked for the business and the local community and Everards Meadows is just that.
It provides 70 acres of beautiful green space for the public and customers to explore. What was an unused flood plain, has now been transformed into a much loved and well used area for everyone to enjoy.
With quality cycling and pedestrian walkways that connect to Route 6 on the National Cycle Network. The meadows are also a haven for wildlife, with a wide variety of birds calling it home. Look out for the bug hotel and see what wildlife you can discover.
You can walk or cycle across the meadows and the site now connects to the Grand Union Canal via a purpose built bridge so you can follow the winding banks of the waterways into Leicester City Centre or discover the stunning Leicestershire countryside.
Popular with dog walkers, ramblers and locals; Everards Beer Hall and shop are dog friendly so customers and their four-legged friends can sit and have a drink after their walk.

What was the motivation behind opening your first store in May of last year?

Everards previously had a shop at Castle Acres and were excited to design a new retail space at Everards Meadows. The shop is convenient for drinkers to pick up their favourite beers, straight from the brewery behind them. There is also an online shop with delivery or free same-day click and collect from the shop – plenty of options to stock up. The small batch brewery gives the team a chance to run small batches of beers to see how they sell and get customers’ feedback to help fuel the limited-edition beer range that goes out to all the pubs and is for sale in the shop.
The shop is performing really well and has recently celebrated its 1st birthday with some in-store events and giveaways. There’s a great range instore and online with local gins, ice creams, gifts and snacks available to browse. Customers love the fact that the beer is fresh and brewed right next to the shop, and the fact that customers can see all the equipment and brew team from the shop adds to the theatre and excitement of buying their beer.