We Brought Beer are in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign, so we thought we’d have a little Q&A with founder James Hickson.

When did you set up We Brought Beer?

I opened the first We Brought Beer store on Hildreth Street in Balham in August 2014. We offered 350 different beers, draught beer, growler (a type of beer container) fills and a regular schedule of events to help locals learn as much about beer as possible. 
 

What came next?

Since opening in Balham, we followed up with another, slightly bigger store in Clapham Junction in late 2015 which added a beer garden and dedicated tasting room perfect for beer classes and food & beer pairings. Our Tooting Market site followed in mid-2016 and is probably the smallest beer shop in London! Even so, we managed to pack in over 200 different beers and 3 draught lines as we didn’t want the good people of Tooting to miss out! The market is an incredibly vibrant place to be, especially at weekends, and we’re loving being part of such a special community of food, drink and other retailers. 

What’s the ethos of We Brought Beer?

We’re on a mission to celebrate beer and take great beer to as many people as possible. 
 

What’s this crowdfunding all about?

We're currently raising investment via equity crowdfunding on Crowdcube, a crowdfunding platform that makes it easy for anyone to own a piece of awesome growing companies (like ours) from as little as £10. Investors own shares in the company which grow in value as we grow. We've just reached the midway point in the campaign, and are 50% funded, with an incredible £180,000 already pledged towards our target. It’s been amazing to welcome over 120 new investors to our company and we’re excited to welcome many many more before we close.
 

Sounds great! What are you planning to do with the investment raised?

We’ve got ambitious plans to open 2 new stores per year over the next few years, because we want everyone to have the best beers on the planet available to them just around the corner. We’re focusing mainly on London and the Southeast although we would quite like a shop in Manchester as the beer scene up there is exploding right now! We’re also conjuring up an exciting new import programme so we can bring even more cool American beers to the people of Tooting and beyond.

How can people find out more?

Check out our pitch page.  

Are there any other ways that people can get involved?

If your readers would like to expand their beer knowledge, they can check out our upcoming beer classes at www.webroughtbeer.co.uk/beerclass 
 

We Brought Beer is one of our valued Community Partners. You can find out more about them on their on website, and follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Find out more about our Community Partners here.