Dorset brewers Hall & Woodhouse raise record £700k for charity

Dorset family brewers Hall & Woodhouse (H&W) donated and raised over £700,000 for charities and local good causes in 2023.

It’s the highest sum raised by the independent brewer in a single year, with charitable activities already underway to beat this figure in 2024.

The business aims to raise £1 million per year before its 250th birthday in 2027.

The six-figure sum was achieved through direct giving from the business, a series of fundraising events and by implementing local initiatives at each of its managed pubs across the south.

Each year, teams across H&W’s estate of pubs elect their own charity of the year and organise their own fundraising events.

Anthony Woodhouse, chairman of Hall & Woodhouse, said: “Making people’s day is central to our purpose and this extends to how we support the lives of others outside of our pubs.

“We’re proud to have been able to donate and raise the essential funds needed by charities, voluntary organisations and other principally local good causes.

“Doing so has been thanks to the efforts of the entire H&W team.

“It is also with thanks to our communities that we have been able to raise such funds and awareness for charitable organisations which enrich people’s lives.

“We’re committed to raising more and more funds every year to help brilliant charitable groups in the south of England thrive, and I am excited to see what 2024 holds.”

In April 2023, H&W was the headline sponsor of the three-day family-friendly festival, Teddy Rocks.

H&W contributed almost £140,000 from the sponsorship and profits from the bars run by its team members, who donated their time for free over the weekend.

The festival donates all its profits to Teddy20 and other children’s cancer charities.

The H&W Dorset Beer Festival, held at the Brewery in June 2023, donated 100 per cent of its proceeds to the mental health and wellbeing charity, Dorset Mind, raising approximately £10,000.

Additionally, a series of direct giving from the business contributed to H&W’s total raised sum for 2023.

Last July, the brewer donated £18,000 to The Tank Museum as part of its annual TANKFEST, which will help preserve the world’s largest collection of tank memorabilia for educational purposes.

In November, H&W donated 50 per cent of all net sales to the mental health foundation, Mind, and the British Red Cross Disaster Fund Appeal, totalling over £60,000.

New charitable activity planned for this year includes sponsored walks, sleep outs in pub gardens and a Hall & Woodhouse football cup.