Archie and Louis Village founded Villages, a brewery based in South London which now supplies 8,000 pints a week!
History of Company
We began our company as a two man band in January 2016 by writing a business plan with the help of the Nwes and pitching it to a small group of friends. These friends became our investors and funded the build of the brewery, alongside a bank loan and personal loans from Nwes. We got keys to two archways under the Deptford train line in July 2016, and opened up our doors to the public in December 2016 for a knees up with our first batches of beer. We’re now a team of 10 (4 full-time, 6 part-time), and can brew 8,000 pints a week.
How has Nwes support changed your business?
Working with Nwes to help write the business plan was instrumental in getting Villages to where it is today. Shout out to Paul Creavin who did a fantastic job asking us challenging questions and guiding us through the process! The personal loans from Nwes allowed us to focus our attention on getting the business into a good place, which in our nascent months really took the pressure off. Now that Villages has it’s own momentum, the conversations we’ve had with Nwes have helped us to keep re-thinking why, and how, we run Villages. Our primary business challenge is increasing rents and rates.
What are your plans over the coming year?
We believe humans have an innate need to congregate, collaborate and celebrate. So we’re excited to grow a team of like-minded people who see the value in bringing people together. We’re looking to grow our family, make better and better beer, and throw better and better parties!
