Shepherd Neame has announced a £15 million investment in a modern, smaller brewery on its town centre site in Faversham that will “secure the next generation of brewing” in the town.
Alongside the brewery investment, Shepherd Neame will bring forward a 10-year development vision for its ‘Heritage Core’ that will create a future new destination for the town and a home for the Shepherd Neame story, drawing visitors to this historic market town and supporting its wider hospitality and visitor economy.
The company said it is moving to a new brewing model that combines in-house production with certain outsourced functions, such as small packaging by the end of 2029
The new brewing operation will be located within the existing bottling hall which will close in mid-2027, in order to be adapted for this new purpose.
The plant will use some of the existing brewery infrastructure, and will continue to draw water from our historic artesian well, in the heart of its site.
By investing £15 million in this project, over three years, the company added it can create a highly efficient and cost-effective facility, with a plant that will enable it to drive quality standards, improve the sustainability of our operations, and provide the business with the flexibility to continue to innovate and develop its portfolio in a rapidly evolving beer market.
With the new model Shepherd Neame will focus only on brewing its own beers, and will no longer enter large third-party brewing contracts.
This means its exclusive licence to brew and distribute Singha Lager will terminate at the end of April 2027.
As part of its AGM, the company outlined that there is good underlying momentum in our pubs, and they continue to trade well in the current year, with like-for-like retail sales up + 6.4% for the 17 weeks to 24th October 2026, and like-for-like income growth of +1.1% in our tenanted estate to 26th September 2026.
For the 17 weeks to 24th October 2026, total beer volume is down -0.6%, and Own Beer volume is down -2.2%. They do not anticipate any changes to FY2027 market expectations.
Jonathan Neame, chief executive, said: “This plan is a great opportunity to modernise and evolve our operations, and to create a unique brand home, with brewing at its heart.
“The new brewery, which will be self-funded, will be adapted to the needs of tomorrow, and will be efficient and cost-effective.
“Combined with sustained investment in our pub business, it will enable us to drive higher returns for the business and its shareholders.
“These steps represent a major commitment to brewing, to Faversham and to our heritage in beer, and our belief in an exciting future for the Company, in the next phase of its development.”
