Bosses of popular Northern brewery with Manchester bar issue worrying update

The co-founders of a popular brewery have filed a ‘notice for intent’ and are urging for investment to avoid the threat of administration.

North, formerly North Brewing Co, have a number of bars across the major northern cities, including North Taproom at Circle Square, on Oxford Road in Manchester. They also have eight venues across Leeds and one in Birmingham.

But John Gyngell and Christian Townsley, owners behind North, announced in a statement they are “currently working with advisors to seek additional investment” to navigate forward with their plans for 2024 and beyond.

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The co-founders of the award-winning brewery attributed the financial strains to a series of challenges, including far-reaching impacts of Covid, Brexit material cost increases, cost of living crisis and interest rate rises that they say had impacted the business and the wider hospitality industry.

"As a result, we've been looking for investment and will have news to share in the coming days. Due to the commercial nature of the discussions, we can't say more but will keep you updated as soon as we can share further details," they explained.

Last year, the brewery was crowned Brewery of The Year 2023 by Brewers Journal. All North venues "remain trading and are unaffected" by the situation, they also confirmed.

In January 2023, North Taproom was opened; the bar boasts 24 draught lines including 18 lines of keg beer, and the taproom has collaborated with several other local breweries including Manchester’s Track Brewing.

In 2020, the business opened a new £2.3m brewery and taproom in Springwell that expanded its annual brewing capacity from 8,000hl a year to 45,000hl. Their beers are