SWIG Finance helps Bristol Cider Shop access Recovery Loan Scheme

Published by

Peter Davison

Bristol Cider shop

Independent cider retailer Bristol Cider Shop has benefited from the British Business Bank’s Recovery Loan Scheme through delivery partner SWIG Finance.

The loan of £31,600 has been provided to help the business relocate to a larger warehouse premises and take advantage of growing market opportunities

Bristol Cider Shop’s mission is to introduce their customers to the “world of proper cider”.

With 100 different varieties, even the pickiest cider-drinker will find something to quench their thirst.

The business supports award-winning UK cider-makers, and each supplier is carefully selected to ensure that only the best quality beverages make it on to their product range.

Furthermore, the business offers its customers the chance to be part of their tasting panel, giving them the opportunity to help shape the future of the cider market.

The business is run by local businessmen Pete Snowman and Martin Rowe. It started in 2010 as Bristol’s first ever cider shop; and has since grown into an online only business, and with sales rapidly increasing it is now moving into a warehouse and office unit more suited to future needs.

With a focus on championing Westcountry cider producers, Bristol Cider Shop aims to be a national leader in craft cider and has plans to create new jobs in sales and administration, and within their warehouse.

Bristol Cider Shop itself has twice been awarded UK Cider Retailer of the Year and has an abundance of offerings for their loyal customers, including subscription boxes, tasting kits and gifts, which include Cider Advent Calendars, drinking glasses and gift vouchers.

Co-owner Martin Rowe said: “Working with SWIG Finance was easy and straightforward. Our business manager, Nicola, asked all the right questions at the very beginning of our application.

"Because she took the time to understand our business and where we wanted it to go, Nicola was able to move the process along quickly and we were impressed by her enthusiasm.”

Bristol-based Nicola Mapp of SWIG Finance said “Bristol Cider Shop are keen to educate customers on the craft cider market and work hard to make craft cider more accessible to a wider audience.

"I enjoyed working with Martin and Peter on this application because of their clear passion for the business and the market and this is what will drive their continued success”.

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.