Founder of craft beer company speaks out about ‘severe blow’ from pandemic

By Grainne Cuffe, local democracy reporter

A small business on the Bermondsey Beer Mile was kept afloat through the pandemic by its “incredible” customers, its founder said.

Hannah Rhodes launched Hiver in 2013, a craft beer company that infuses its lagers and ales with honey from urban beekeepers, with a focus on sustainability.

While sourcing honey for the beer, Hannah learned about beekeeping and in particular urban beekeeping, the practice of keeping bee colonies in built-up areas.

The business, which donates 10 per cent of its profits to pollinator charities, began sourcing honey from Bee Urban, a community project in Kennington Park which uses responsible beekeeping to fund some its work.

From there began a partnership which hosts hands-on beekeeping experiences, where customers can learn all about bees, followed by beer tasting sessions.

Now Hiver has a Taproom on the Mile and the beekeeping experiences – Bee Urban would host 3,000 customers in a normal year from April to September – are also on offer at a Vineyard in Sussex.

Hiver sources its honey from independent beekeepers from all over the country.

Before the first lockdown, the business had managed to get its beers on some of the main supermarkets’ shelves.

 

But last year, along with businesses across the country and world, the pandemic dealt a severe blow to Hiver.

Hannah said: “It was bloody awful. It felt like we were at a stage where we’d just got a couple of these regional supermarket listings.

“It really felt like it was going to be a promising year and then the pandemic hit and our revenues dropped to 12 per cent overnight.

“It was two weeks into lockdown and I was thinking ‘that’s it, we’re going to have to shut up shop’.

“I couldn’t see a way of keeping the business going. You’ve got rent on properties, team members.

“We are a very small business but you’re proud of the team that you’ve built up and you’re thinking ‘oh God, we can’t keep going’.”

But the response from customers looking to get beer delivered helped Hiver keep afloat.

“What was really incredible was that people who had been to the Taproom started reaching out and saying ‘can we get your beer online, we want to support you, we love coming to the Taproom’.

“The support for small businesses like Hiver was just amazing and it helped keep the lights on until we had a different plan and until we were able to benefit from some of the Government support.

“We were negotiating left, right, and centre. I thought we’d have to give up the Taproom two or three times during the year because we just couldn’t afford to keep up with the rent repayments while things were locked down,” Hannah said.

Hannah used the furlough scheme, which she said was an “absolute lifeline”, and the landlord of the Taproom was very accommodating with an agreement “that took a bit of the sting out of it”.

“It meant that some of the Government support was enough to just keep the space ticking over.

“Obviously the reality is you’re loss-making very heavily during the year, which is the same for most breweries and hospitality businesses.

“You have a lot of sleepless nights because you’re burning cash, which feels very uncomfortable.

“But the support from customers and people who have followed us on social media but never bought the beer before reaching out and buying a case – you’re so grateful for it. It literally kept the business afloat.

“We were very lucky that we had these supermarket listings but they were small, we were just starting on that journey,” she said.

Despite the struggles, including significant problems accessing some of the Government grants at the start, there is light at the end of the tunnel as lockdown eases.

Hannah said: “We just cannot wait to get going. We’re so excited to have people back in the Taproom again.”

The Taproom is welcoming customers back on April 17, with outdoor seating in line with beer garden rules.

“We’re very keen for it to be a celebratory summer and can’t wait to see people – we’re just thrilled that people are coming back.

“For anybody that has supported us or plans to come to the Taproom, I just want to give them a huge thank you. It’s helped keep us in business and we’re really grateful,” Hannah said.