York Brewery to undergo temporary re-location as new owners seek permanent site

York Brewery’s brewing operations at Toft Green, in the city, will be temporarily relocated as its owners seek a new site within the city.

The Black Sheep Brewery, which bought York Brewery out of administration in December 2018, has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to maintain York Brewery’s brewing operations in York. York Brewery has been brewing within the city for more than 20 years, ever since the company was established in 1996.

Black Sheep is actively seeking a new site within York and has appointed property agents to secure a suitable location.

Andy Slee, Chairman of The Black Sheep Brewery, said: “The York Brewery acquisition, in December 2018, was an important moment for both businesses. We have taken on three additional pubs as a result, together with the York Brewery property at Toft Green. The three pubs are working well.

“However, despite wanting to maintain brewing in the City of York and our best efforts, a lack of a timely agreement between the landlord of the building and Black Sheep will lead to a temporary relocation of equipment and people to our Masham site. This interim measure should not be for too long, we have several other locations in York under active consideration for York Brewery, and have appointed agents to deal with the matter.

“It is a great shame the landlord could not reach agreement in time. As new owners we want to maintain as much consistency to the business as possible. But the long-term future of the products and brands is safe.

“We have also been reviewing the jobs associated with York Brewery and we are pleased that the merger has been able to support maintenance of all but a handful of the roles and that larger scale job losses from the 40 plus staff have been avoided.”

In December 2018, Black Sheep acquired York Brewery, which had entered administration, transferring more than 40 jobs to the Masham-headquartered company. As part of the deal, Black Sheep took ownership of three of York Brewery’s outlets, allowing Black Sheep to develop its retail strategy.