Peterborough brewery Oakham Ales enjoys taste of success as sales rise after pandemic

A Peterborough brewery is enjoying an increase in beer sales as pubs and bars revive after the Covid-19 enforced closures.

Now Oakham Ales, based in Maxwell Road, Woodston, is recruiting extra staff to cope with the growing workload.

The brewery has been advertising for a temporary assistant brewer to help ale production through the busy summer months.

Adrian Posnett, managing director of Oakham Ales, said: “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the pick-up of our draught beer volumes so far in 2022 – a tribute we think to the popularity of the Oakham beers with our pub customers, our distributors and of course our loyal drinkers.

“However in contrast to our pub sales, supermarket volumes have been disappointing during the first four months of the year and overall volumes are still at rather lower levels than in pre-pandemic 2019.

Mr Posnett added: “With well-publicised cost of living issues likely to impact significantly on spending as the year goes on, we have to remain cautious about prospects for the remainder of the year.

“But nevertheless, it’s great to be moving forward again and to be able to slowly re-instate some of the roles at the brewery which were lost during the pandemic.”

With the closure of pubs and bars and other hospitality venues during much of the pandemic, sales of beers took a hit and jobs were cut.

However, supermarket sales of Oakham’s beer rose as people bought more to drink at home.

IN PICTURES: Oakham Ales is keeping the beer flowing