Inside Wadworth's new multi million pound Devizes brewery

Construction is underway at the new site on Folly Road, and the transition from the Northgate Street brewery is due to happen in April or May.

In total, investment in their new home will cost the brewers between £7m and £10m, but is expected to significantly reduce future running costs.

Each of these ten containers holds 14,000 pints of beer. (Image: Newsquest)

Managing director Toby Bartholomew was disappointed to leave the historic brewery but felt the change was necessary and will lead to new opportunities.

He said: “It’s an amazing building but the old brewery is too big, too inefficient and is very costly for us.

“We found this site and couldn’t quite believe it matched exactly what we wanted. We’ll be able to introduce a lot more different styles of beer into our range.

“The flexibility to try something new is what our tenants want, what the customer wants and we just can’t do that in the old brewery.

“It’s a big investment, but the payback from the efficiency savings we’ll make and the beers we can produce over the next 40 years here means it’s a small cost for the future”.

The new site is far more compact than the Northgate Street complex. (Image: Newsquest)

The new site is far more compact than the old one, where beer would travel three miles from its starting point before the brewing process was complete.

The smallest amount of beer Wadworth could brew at a time on Northgate Street was 70 barrels, compared to 15 at the Folley Road complex.

Wadworth’s chief engineer, Stuart Sinden, explained that this, combined with bespoke machinery imported from Germany, such as an ultra-efficient steam generator, will increase the sustainability of brewing.

He said: “The new site is much smaller in size which makes it more flexible. It means we can scale up or down as we need to.

“It’s a game changer which makes us significantly more energy efficient.

“Energy efficiency is important to us, not just because of the cost of living crisis, but because that journey to net zero is important”.

The bespoke equipment was manufactured by German company Braukon. (Image: Newsquest)

The new brewery will also allow new ranges of beer to be trialled, including Wadworth’s first ever lager To Helles and Back, which is set to debut in March.

Mr Bartholomew added: “It’s very important for us. Having our own exciting, fresh product is good for us, our tenants want something different”.

Wadworth will continue to brew traditional favourites such as 6X, which is entering its 100th year, and there will be no break in production during the transition.