Delavals (Brewers) Ltd is a company based in the North East of England and is operated by two brothers, John and David Gilfillan. The Company recently won the ‘Small Business of the Year 2014’ award at the Northumberland Business Awards.
The inspiration for the business was the purchase of Seaton Delaval Hall (in Northumberland) by the National Trust in 2009. The Hall had a history of brewing over 200 years ago and provided the inspiration for Delavals first beer – Seaton Delaval Hall Pale Ale (4.3% ABV) – which is based on a 200 year old recipe once brewed at the Hall (adapted for today’s palate).
In order to begin the process of turning the business from a lifestyle entity into a commercial business, Delavals became an official licencee of the National Trust in 2012 for an initial period of 2 years and in Q2 2014 a new longer term licence was agreed. Out of approximately 1,200 breweries in the UK, there is only one officially licenced National Trust brewer & that is Delavals.
The Company has the sole and exclusive licence to operate the National Trust Beer Club which it both created and ‘soft’ launched in September 2013. The address for the website is www.nationaltrustbeerclub.co.uk – this website is fully functional, has over 200 different beers from over 50 breweries and the Beer Club has members from all over the UK. The Company also supplies National Trust branded beer and has created the National Trust Great British Beer Collection (see image below).
The Company operates from a 2,500 sq.ft unit in Blyth, Northumberland and currently has 4 full time employees.