Badger Beer maker Hall & Woodhouse doubles profit ahead of tie-up with James May

The maker of Tangle Foot, Fursty Ferret and Hopping Hare has doubled its profit after cheering a jump in brewing volumes.

Dorset-based brewer Hall and Woodhouse, which also operates over 130 pubs across England including the Old Nick in Holborn, St Stephen’s Tavern in Westminster and The Ship and Shovell in Charing Cross, recorded a profit of £8.9m in the year to end January, up from £4.1m the prior year.

Total turnover rose 6.7 per cent to £131.1m, led by a 4 per cent rise in volumes at its Badger Beer brewery, following a surge in demand for its Outland stout.

The group, which next year celebrates its 250th birthday, this week announced a new cask ale, The Spanner, developed with presenter and pub owner James May, which it said would offer “James’ unique perspective on what truly makes a great beer”.

‘Punitive taxes’

But ahead of the celebrations, the firm’s family owners cautioned over uncertain market conditions and warned they were being hammered by a raft of government-imposed red tape and tax hikes.

“As a longstanding family business, we are proud to be a force for good,” the company said. 

“However, punitive employment taxes, proposed changes to employment rights legislation, unlevel playing fields on VAT versus supermarkets and on business rates versus online businesses and inheritance tax changes all act as disincentives and make it harder to behave in this positive way.”

The remarks echo the sentiment of other family-owned firms in the sector, including Hertfordshire-based McMullen’s, which said there was a “fundamental tension” between rising costs for businesses and the government’s expectation of growth.

Outgoing chairman Charles Brims said the Autumn budget brought about “a tax and cost burden without precedent in the 21st Century” with larger employers “particularly hard hit.”

“While the government’s first of five ‘missions’ is to ‘kickstart economic growth’, it remains far from clear how this is to be achieved, particularly in our sector,” Brims said in a statement.