A popular brewery in Sydenham that gives work to people with learning disabilities has been recognised at a local award.
Ignition Brewery in Sydenham first began a decade ago in 2014, starting out selling mulled wine at Lewisham Market.
Following its success, the founders opened a brewery in Sydenham with support from the community and Camden Brewery sold them their old equipment for just £1.
Ignition Brewery was also named a winner at this year's Mayor of Lewisham Business awards for its contributions to the community.
The brewery is based in a former community centre and it is now a thriving local drinking space with a bar, taproom and beer garden.
Here you can have a drink sat on rustic wooden tables, surrounded by a mural painted by a local Lewisham artist, and choose from a selection of in-house brewed beers as well as wines and spirits.
The space can seat up to 50 people, with director Dave King describing the business as “intimate and spacious”, and a “place that’s all about community, from die-hard fans to people who stumble across us and like what we’re about.”
The business, which is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, is owned by disability charity Brighter Horizons, and aims to help those with cognitive and learning disabilities into work through training and work experience.
Dave King, who took on the business over a year ago, said that the business has helped ten people into employment this year alone, with a lot more in the years before.
“We’ve helped people get into all kinds of jobs,” Dave explained. “Some go into hospitality and similar roles, but some go into IT and other jobs, simply because this job has helped them get both experience and a reference.”
Currently Ignition Brewery employs a team of eight staff with a range of cognitive disabilities, whose “different strengths complement each other.”
Staff apply from a range of backgrounds through charities like Mencap, and many are local students who join the business after training at Lewisham College.
The staff operate a range of roles, from brewing beer to working behind the bar in the taproom, with some support from staff and local volunteers who help to put on music events and quiz nights and even “act as bouncers” during busier times.
Dave said: “In the UK, there are only one in 20 adults who have got a learning disability actually in employment, which is just a shocking statistic, really. It's far lower than I think people would realise.
“But we want to train people up, build their skills for work and pay a fair wage for a fair hour’s work, and then move people on into other employment when they've had their time with us.
“And it’s also a cool job to say you know how to brew beer.”
The brewery, which celebrated brewing its 250th brew this year, offers six core beers along with three specials which change on a seasonal basis.
The beers are also stocked locally at Catford Broadway Theatre, which recently held this year's Mayor of Lewisham Business Awards.
Dave explained: “Every time we hit our 50th brew, we've got a special one-off brew that we do called Milestone to celebrate hitting that milestone of 50 brews.
“But the other nice thing is that we bottle our beers by hand because of the size of the brewery, so that also creates more jobs for our team rather than replacing jobs with machinery.
“So this is a nice enterprise because we’re not asking for money, all people need to do to help give more disabled people a job is to buy a beer.
“Ultimately we’re about getting more people with learning disabilities into work and it’s important that employers realise this too.
“It may cost more money, it does for us because we may need an extra staff member at the bar to ensure the team is safe, but it’s the right thing to do.”
This year Ignition Brewery was named winner of the Community Contribution Award at the Mayor of Lewisham Business Awards 2024, marking the first year the business has won an award since 2018.
This year Lewisham Council received over 9,000 votes from the public, with the winners announced across 15 categories at an awards ceremony that took place at Catford’s Broadway Theatre on November 19.
Speaking on winning the award, Dave described their recent success as “like a massive hug from the community” who voted for Ignition Brewery as the winning business.
Dave said: “It’s been a hard year with costs going up and running a non-profit organisation like ours is never easy.
“But winning the award, especially knowing that local people voted for us, just feels like such a warm hug and it’s a lovely feeling, this is the first award we’ve won in quite a few years.
“The team were delighted with it and I think for them, they're really proud of the work they do.
“This is all part of building up their confidence and it's just a big sense for my community that they're still glad we're here.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel