At a recent meeting of the London Brewers’ Alliance (LBA), a vote was held in favour of formalising the governing structure of the group. The LBA was formed in 2010 to unite those who make local beer with those that love it, and represent the vibrant heritage and contemporary scene of beer brewing in the great city of London. John Keeling, Fuller’s Global Ambassador and former Brewing Director, was named as the first Chairman with Sam McMeekin of Gypsy Hill taking on the role of Deputy Chairman.
The new roles will lead the group through a 12 month review of the role and structure of the LBA to improve issues around funding, knowledge sharing and communications – building an organisation that can protect the role of London brewers in the future. The new working group will report back to the wider LBA membership at regular intervals.
John Keeling said: “The London Brewers’ Alliance was created on a more social level, to bring together those of us with the common purpose of brewing great beer in our capital city. However, we realise that we need to formalise some of our activity to ensure that we offer the best support possible to our members – and to do that, we need a working party to identify areas of commonality and issues for development.
“I’m honoured to be taking on this role – and delighted to have Sam in support. It was only 10 years ago that I was one of just five head brewers in London. Now there are 90. We need to ensure that brewing in London continues to flourish and survive and I’m looking forward to implementing plans to do just that.”