Pumphouse Community Brewery

The village of Toppesfield on the North Essex/Suffolk boarders, is well known for its community owned businesses. Following the closure of its last, privately owned shop in 2002, Toppesfield Community Stores was established as a community benefit society in new premises attached to the village hall. Then, in 2012 Toppesfield became only the 14th community in the country to buy its ‘local’, the Green Man. Through a new community benefit society, Toppesfield Community Pub was created with 156 shareholders and almost £280,000 was raised for the purchase.

Part of the Green Man premises comprised of an under-used barn. Some thought had already been given to utilising that space for a small brewery when, in early 2014 a nearby micro-brewery, located in Helions Bumpstead, was forced to close when the pub, in whose grounds it was based, shut permanently. The brewing equipment was put up for sale and it was felt by the Pumphouse management committee that this would provide a great opportunity to bring to fruition the thoughts of a brewery in Toppesfield.

We believed that the establishment of a micro-brewery on this site would strongly complement The Green Man by providing a regular supply of traditional ales at an attractive price. In addition the brewery would provide some employment and volunteering opportunities for its members and those in the wider community and act as an attraction to visitors, thereby, in turn, benefiting both the community owned village shop and the pub.