Lockdown 3.0 - A Maverick Update

Eventually, we’ll see this as a mere bump in the road…

As you will know, we have been on quite the roller coaster these last six months or so, bringing Maverick to life. One of the key details of this endeavor has been the home for our brewery and tap room in Farnham. We agreed lease terms in principle with the landlord back in July 2020, which meant we could launch the crowd funding and start actively publicizing our plans and get people excited about what we were doing; bringing something new and fresh to the town we love. The crowdfunding was amazing. We gained so much support and received so much love for what we wanted to achieve, it just blew us away. Not only did we reach our crowdfunding target, we smashed it. All with the amazing backing from people like you.

Since then, we have been jumping through the usual hoops when negotiating a lease, in order for us to secure this dream location in central Farnham, and busily sorting all the licenses and permits we need.

In fact, we have been pleasantly surprised at the support and ease with which we were able to secure them all! The town council have been great with granting licenses and the local community and press too, have been so supportive; people are clearly keen for a brewery that not only contributes towards the community it serves, but that serves the community great beers in a vibrant and chilled environment!

We really have felt the love.

However – and there is always a but isn’t there?

During our lease negotiations we learnt that we actually had to deal with not just one, but two levels of landlord which, inevitably, has complicated matters - and that’s before we even bring Coronavirus and a third lockdown into conversation.

Throughout this process we have tried to be as open and transparent as possible with everyone – our backers, our investors, our supporters and our landlord(s).

And so, it is with heavy heart that we have to tell you that in late January we received the most awful news that we had dreaded.

Despite our best efforts to push the contracts and agreements through the various layers of red tape and landlords, they have dropped us at the last minute for what looks like a more lucrative offer.

After receiving this heart-breaking news we tried to save the situation but sadly, after a number of weeks we found out that this was not possible and since then we have been working hard to limit the financial damage to the business because of all of the commitments to licenses, deposits, solicitor costs, lease legal commitments and all of the pre-work that we had done so we could hit the ground running as soon as we received keys.

This has hurt and to be honest, sank our spirit to the lowest point it has ever been.

What do we do now? Where do we go from here?

We had, fleetingly, considered throwing in the towel. We have invested so much of our time, love and money to get this far that to see it taken away from us is absolutely crushing. In fact it’s more than that. To have something outside of our control stop us building something that so many people have told us they were so looking forward to - something that is just what Farnham needs - makes us feel like we have somehow failed every single one of our supporters. However… We are lucky to be part of the most wonderful community; people who have kept us going and have driven us on through the last six months. We have had set backs before and whilst this is quite a biggie, this hurdle is not going to stop us. We are absolutely committed to delivering on the pledges that you made, and we are determined to make Maverick a reality. We will still bring top quality, exciting and interesting craft beer to Farnham and the surrounding area. In short; we are not giving up, and we will not go away. This will not stop Maverick Brewing becoming a reality. So what’s next? Well, from here we move forward. We are still perfecting our recipes and coming up with more exciting beers and experimenting with even more interesting styles. And we are, of course, looking for a new home. We still want to be in Farnham - ideally still in the centre or at least as close to it as we possibly can be, given than industrial space is few and far between – and we would love for you to help us. If you know of somewhere that is available and suitable for a 1,300+ sq ft brewery that could also fit a small tap-room, then let us know! In the meantime, as we restart the search for premises, we will be contacting some our friends in the industry to see if there are any other ways we can get our beers into your hands sooner. Eventually, we’ll see this as a mere bump in the road on our phenomenal journey, and we’ll no doubt have a good laugh about it - over a delicious, cold beer of course! Keep safe and well, and look after the people and businesses around you by staying at home and buying local where you can.

These are difficult times for all of us but it’s awesome people like you, supporting new and small business like Maverick, that keep us all going. Team Maverick #bemoremaverick