Bowness Bay Brewery has acquired two microbreweries as it looks to grow its market share. Standish-based Windmill Brewery and Cumbrian-based Appleby Brewery will now come under the Bowness Bay Brewing company.

Brewery founder Richard Husbands said the business had been in talks with Windmill and Appleby breweries for some time and it “was the right opportunity at the right time”.

He added: “Windmill and Appleby have established customer bases with strong products, and we’ll continue to operate the brands, particularly where there is a strong geographical association with customers.

“With Windmill being based in Standish it gives us the ability to expand our reach into Lancashire and Cheshire. Appleby also has existing contracts with Booths, Co-op and Westmorland Ltd, whilst Windmill has existing contracts with Co-op. These relationships will dovetail nicely with our growth plans for these sectors.

“Acquisitions that provide us with the ability to grow or give us new routes to market will certainly form part of our growth plans, but that’s not the focus. Our priority is to ensure that we continue to brew high quality beers that our customers like and want.”

Bowness Bay Brewing has recently undergone an expansion programme, which includes the opening of a new bar at the brewery called the Barrel House. 

He concluded: “Acquiring both Windmill and Appleby brands, enables ‘The Barrel House’ to  introduce new brands and beers to the growing Barrel House community, which will complement the existing very popular Bowness Bay Brewing brands.”

As part of the expansion the brewery has invested in new six state-of-the-art 5000 litre fermenters from SSV Ltd.

It also acquired a new fully automatic keg machine which will help increase output to over 1000 kegs per month and new sterile filter equipment.

The investment will help see the brewery increase productivity and meet consumer demand.