AN ONLINE real ale retailer is expanding just six months after being launched.

Bottled real ale specialist bestofbritishbeer.co.uk started trading in August and has now moved from its founders' home to a new base at the Parkhouse Industrial Estate East in Newcastle.

Husband and wife team Will and Gill Sherwin had been running the business from their home in Balterley, using their garden shed as a storeroom and their dining room as a packing area.

But demand began to accelerate so much in the run-up to Christmas that the couple had to quickly find a bigger base.

Gill said: "We sold our first case of beer in August and things have taken off so much over the last six months it's unbelievable.

"We moved into our new place in December. Over Christmas we were sending out 50 to 70 cases or 1,000 bottles a day and we would never have been able to do that from our dining room table!"

Before setting up bestofbritishbeer. co.uk, Will was an operations director in the licensing trade while Gill was working in financial services running overseas call centres.

Gill said: "We both love beer and we wanted to do something for ourselves. There are so many good local breweries and interest in real ale is growing all the time."

The website works with around 100 small independent breweries from the Shetland Islands to the Isle of Wight, including Lymestone Brewery in Stone, Nantwich's Woodlands Brewery, the Wincle Beer Company in Rushton Spencer and Slater's in Stafford. It also handles online bottle sales on behalf of Burslem-based Titanic.

Gill said: "We knew we had some really good breweries but we didn't realise the interest would be so nationwide. We get lots of customers from the Home Counties ordering beer from Staffordshire and Cheshire – they are ordering stuff they wouldn't have come across otherwise. We are quite mindful of the fact that we always want to work with small breweries."

The website offers a personalised label service for special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas and Valentine's Day which has also proved popular with businesses looking for alternative corporate gifts.

Will and Gill are also running regular pop-up beer festivals and tasting sessions for companies and charity events.

Newcastle Borough Council helped the couple find their new base at the Newcastle Business Centre, which offers subsidised rent to support new firms.

Gill said: "The council was fantastic in helping us find the location and we also received a 50 per cent rebate on the first year's rent.

"That enabled us to expand at a much quicker rate than expected."

The firm has taken advantage of the centre's three-year starter package, which aims to help entrepreneurs just starting out by providing subsidised occupation fees (50 per cent in the first year and 15 per cent in the second). It's hoped by the third year that the business will have become established enough to move into larger premises.

Newcastle Business Centre includes 12 workshops, which are let on flexible terms to enable companies to grow without the commitment of a formal lease. If it doesn't work out, they only need to give one month's notice.

Jean Williams, business development assistant at the council, added: "I'm delighted the move has paid dividends."

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