Passionate friends and family have opened a new brewery in the heart of the Lake District — bringing together the shared ambition.

Lakes Brew Co is the newest brewery in the heart of Kendal on Mintsfeet Industrial Estate providing fresh-off-the-line beer to the craft beer scene in the Lake District.

It was co-founded by four friends — Matt Clarke, Michelle Gay, Steve Ricketts and Paul Sheldon — who all previously worked at Hawkshead Brewery before being made redundant at the beginning of lockdown decided to start their own business.

Co-founder and creative director Michelle Gay said she is excited for this journey.

“We set up Lakes Brew Co out of a bit of adversity — we paved our way in the beer world and we came to the decision to become Lakes Brew Co.

“We couldn’t see ourselves going into any other business or working for someone else, so it was a perfect opportunity really.”

Michelle, who worked at Hawkshead brewery for five years and knows the brewery business well, said: “We have just taken delivery of our brew kit which is exciting – it will be plugged in next weekend and hopefully we can get brewing and get some beers out there.

“It’s been a bit of a challenging year with all the demand of products and shortages and shipping, but we are there now and we’ve had some time to get organised when waiting for our machines from China."

The team prides itself with a strong ethos of support and collaboration. Michelle said: “We are really looking forward to working with more like-minded, indepedent business which is key for us, to support each other and it will go further.”