Brewer's viewpoint Robert Middleton

Welcome to SE17

As if Covid-19 wasn’t enough to deal with, Robert Middleton, founder of Orbit brewery, based in London’s Walworth, SE17, has spent the last two years working on a massive project effectively doubling the size of his production facility. Here he looks back on the team’s herculean efforts, and celebrates Orbit’s deepening connection with the local community…

Mention East 17 and most folk will instantly recognise the 1990s boy band. For many others, it’s just the postcode for Walthamstow. So, what about South East 17? Unfortunately, it’s not a tribute act that might play gigs south of the river, just the postcode for another ‘Wal’, Walworth. Sandwiched between Elephant & Castle and Camberwell, most famous as the birthplace of Charlie Chaplin, and nearly two miles away from the Bermondsey beer mile, this unfashionable area of London sure ain’t a tourist hub, nor indeed a major beer destination. Until now.

Orbit Beers are the only brewery in SE17. We started in one arch in 2014, added a second a few years later, then planned to double again in early 2020. We all know what happened then. We’ll return to the story of how one expands through a pandemic later, but why plan to grow slowly in a relative backwater, why not grow exponentially in the outskirts? Indeed, why make your home in four arches lined up like houses on the Monopoly Board (Old Kent Road of course)? It all comes down to ethos. We brew beers inspired by authentic, traditional European styles, remaining immune to the short-term influence of passing trends. We’re here for the long term and enjoy our independence. Most importantly, Walworth is our home and we love being a growing part of its story. So, we’ve pinned our colours to the mast and decided to stay long-term in SE17. We’re investing, growing, building the team, and dedicated to making ever-better beers. All great stuff, but it wasn’t going to be easy to install a double size kit, a whole new taproom and a bespoke cold store in a world gripped by Covid-19. So, how did it go? We’re now two years on from our initial plans and we’re almost done. Were there headwinds and delays? A few. Apart from the challenges we’ve all faced since 23 March 2020, we had squatters for two months, four arch inspections by our friends at Network Rail, an ongoing game of pass-theCovid among our team and the occasional financial pitfall. But was it all (Wal)worth it? Absolutely. We’ve never been more excited about the future ahead.

Many people reading this story will have been through the steep learning curve that is setting up a new brewery. A fair number will have expanded into new premises with larger production capability. We at Orbit, however, decided to double our kit size in the same premises where the original kit lived, without pausing on our brew schedule. Kind of like juggling three balls with one hand and five with the other.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that we dropped a few balls. So, what were the biggest lessons we learned about managing an ambitious project involving tons of metal, miles of piping and wiring, and a gas installation, in times of great uncertainty? First, beware of what you don’t know that you don’t know and maybe get some friendly advice. Second, be very respectful of anything that you know you don’t know and make proper allowances. Third, the devil really is in the details and it will make an appearance when it is least convenient, so add a month or two to your timescales. All that said though, we’re still here, nearly done and not entirely broke. Thanks team! So, while we’re very much looking forward to playing with our new brew kit very soon, our connection with the community has already been deepened by our new taproom, which opened in late June last year. We’ve become a hub, a meeting place, a warm refuge on a winter’s evening for beer, food and friends. Indeed, we seem to be particularly popular with babies and dogs (and their humans). We welcome many Walworth worthies, a significant Italian fraternity, our local postie (who DJs regularly) and all sorts of everyone. It’s been such a pleasure to offer our beers directly to our customers, to make new friends, receive great feedback and partner with Lightnin’ Hot Things who have set up an amazing kitchen inside our taproom. I’ve certainly noticed that my fellow shareholder, Alistair, and I are much more keen to stay late than ever before. Cheers to that.

I think we’d all agree that it’s been a pretty tough two years for everyone in the business of making small-batch, carefully crafted beers. It appears like we’ve come through the worst of it pretty well - I sure hope so. For Orbit, we know there are plenty of good times ahead, so why not pop down to Walworth, London’s beer, er, furlong!