Export award for brewer

EAST Anglia-based St Peter's Brewery has won the Drinks Exporter of the Year title at the annual Food from Britain Export Awards, held at The Savoy in London.

St Peter's, based at St Peter South Elmham, near Bungay, supplies its range of English beers and ales to 15 overseas markets - including the United States, Canada and Russia - and is looking to expand into a further five new and emerging countries over the next year.

Nearly half of the company's total sales come from international markets and exports have grown by 67% over the last 12 months alone.

Simon Waring, marketing and international management director at Food from Britain, said: “We are delighted to present the Drinks Exporter of the Year award to St. Peter's Brewery. We wish them further exporting success in the coming years.

“The judges were extremely impressed with the company's approach to export markets. It is passionate about exporting and has had huge successes through highlighting the 'Britishness' of its products. The only British brewer whose main focus is on exporting, this small company has big ambitions, with designs on becoming THE international brand of English Beer.”

Colin Cordy, managing director at St Peter's Brewery, said: “We are delighted to have won recognition with this prestigious Food from Britain Export award. We have put a great amount of effort into exporting, so it is very rewarding for our work overseas to be recognised in this way.”

Food from Britain is the market development consultancy for British food and drink companies, funded jointly by industry and government. The export awards were staged in association with Royal Bank of Scotland and trade publication The Grocer.

Earlier this week, it emerged that John Murphy, who formed the business, had shelved plans announced earlier this year to sell the business. It is now to invest £250,000 in increasing its brewing capacity by 40% in order to meet increasing demand.