Pasini Leisure
The established team behind a number of independent and local hospitality venues in Essex and Suffolk, Pasini Leisure, is expanding its microbrewery operation into a historic building in Colchester, situated in the heart of the town.
Pasini received support through Let’s Do Business Finance with a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme facility (CBILS) for funding to help them to achieve their expansion plans for artisan micro-brewery, Other Monkeys Brewing.
Currently, Pasini operates three venues in Colchester including Twisters Bar, V Bar and Three Wise Monkeys Colchester (TWMC) and a fourth in Ipswich, Three Wise Monkeys Ipswich (TWMI). Three Wise Monkeys is a craft tap and smokehouse, complete with artisanal basement gin bar and live music experience at the heart of its offering.
Deciding to expand the business and fill the gap in the market for in-house microbreweries in the local area, the directors decided to start a microbrewery, ‘Other Monkeys Brewing (OMB)’ in the basement of TWMC in 2016 with production starting a year later.
The concept was welcomed and due to the success of the project, OMB expanded their range in 2018 and attended festivals selling an average of 13,400 pints a year. The award-winning microbrewery now has eight uniquely tasting craft ale and beers with plans to grow this range and to disrupt and distribute nationwide in the future.
The number of breweries has been accelerating in the last three years (great news for ale and beer lovers!). Of the 2,274 breweries active in 2018, 1,978 were microbreweries (statistica.com, 2020). Demand for craft from consumers is at an all time high, with the SIBA British Craft Beer Report stating that only 2% consumers believe that craft beer is made by global breweries.
The growth of OMB has fulfilled the need for a microbrewery in the local area of North Essex and Let’s Do Business Finance are pleased to have helped with this second stage of their ongoing expansion plans and look towards the future, beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CBILS funding scheme was used to grow the OMB brewery as it sits alongside TWMC. To grow the brand, Pasini developed a project to increase their capacity by re-housing the brewery into the iconic adjacent Jacks building with support from Colchester Council. This will enable the business to build two upstairs tasting rooms as well as a retail shop area, which will ultimately allow OMB to grow their customer base.
“We are incredibly excited to restore the charm of such a rich piece of Colchester’s history and reimagine the space into a modern craft brewery. Though we have faced one of the most challenging years in our history as a local and independent operator of craft bars and pubs, we remain passionate and excited about the reopening roadmap ahead and the expansion of Other Monkey Brewing. Of which, Let’s Do Business Finance plays a significant part in supporting and enabling us to do that with confidence as we come out of the pandemic.”
“It has been great to work alongside this dynamic management team and support their growth plans despite the current sector challenges. Working closely with this established business , Colchester Council and Essex County Council has made this exciting project a reality despite short term trading pressures. I look forward to that first pint.”
As well as management of the venues, Pasini also operates Pasini Promotions, a 360 promotional and content creation service for its venues and a selection of third party clients. The group has a dedicated App; The Monkey App, to provide customers across its venues with ease of booking and ordering to tables as well as exclusive early bird and special ticket access.
Pasini is looking forward to reopening their venues in Colchester and Ipswich and welcoming craft ale and beer lovers back to Other Monkey Brewing and the all-new location in Jacks. You can find out more information on their website here.
If you are in the hospitality sector and looking for support through the COVID-19 pandemic and to plan for the future, please get in touch with us. The CBILS scheme offers 12 months interest free with no fees and business mentoring support. The scheme ends 31 March 2021, so businesses are urged to apply as soon as possible.