Poppyland Brewery

Allen's Garages

Allen's Garages was an old-fashioned business, with workshops purpose-built for those newfangled motorised carriage things at the beginning of the 20th century. When Peter Allen retired in 2010 he sold the site for redevelopment and I watched it being torn down. Having looked around North Norfolk for somewhere to establish my brewery I was beginning to despair of finding anything suitable. I considered a small industrial unit just outside Cromer and some farm buildings at Bradfield Hall Farm, Bradfield but they didn't seem quite right. Then, something urged me to peer into a dark and dirty window on West Street near my house. Lo-and-behold, when my eyes had accustomed to the gloom, I could see part of the old garage workshop had been bricked-up and apparently forgotten. I called up Peter Allen. 'No, I have no plans for it at all. Would you like the keys and have a look inside?'. Would I!

On going inside the smell of old garage hit me. A heady mixture of oil, grease, fuel, rust and grime. It was wonderful. Such character! Like a time-warp. It dawned on me that this was what I had been searching for and it had been under my nose all along. This dingy old garage was going to be my new career and I would bring it up to the standard required for a hygienic and efficient little microbrewery. It was March 2011 and I was very excited.

Just as I was getting going, talking to the council, cleaning the place up a bit, my wife Steffi had an operation to mend shoulder tissues torn in a fall in the street. Afterwards, she couldn't do anything and needed a lot of looking after. So little got done in the brewery that summer. But I was reading and visiting and going to training events, so the time wasn't wasted. It was September before she really started to mend and I could get on with the practical work.

I had been full of trepidation about the planning permission, the premises licence, the change of use, the drainage I needed and maybe the old floor would have to come up. The costs just appeared to escalate the more I looked into it. There was fire-proofing to consider and the Disability Discrimination Act, not to mention ventilation to extract my steam and smells in a residential neighbourhood. What about emergency exits? And what would all this cost? Was it big enough? Was it viable?

Stef was all for moving and finding a place in the countryside that had outbuildings and space but I had the conviction that I could make this work. And besides, I loved Chesterfield Lodge even though it was on the main road. It had character too. Designed by David Brandon RIBA in the cottage orneornéele I had lovingly maintained it over the years and I wasn't going to give it up that easily. Besides, Winston Churchill stayed there and what a story that was, to base a beer around. It had to be done. I was staying.

The way it was in April-June 2011

June 2012 vs June 2011

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