Honour for county’s top independent brewer

“When I came to Herefordshire I was told it would take 30 years to be accepted. It has taken 40.”

So joked one of the county’s foremost entrepreneurs on being awarded the Freedom of the City of Hereford at a ceremony in the Town Hall earlier this month.

Wye Valley Brewery founder Peter Amor was recognised for his “distinguished service to the city’s economy, the brewing industry both locally and nationally, and his significant contribution to local charities for many years”, the city council’s citation read.

Mr Amor learned his trade at Guiness and Bulmers before starting his own brewery at the Nag’s Head in Canon Pyon in 1985, relocating to the Barrels in Hereford two years later.

When the business outgrew that, he moved brewing to the former Symonds Cider site at Stoke Lacy in 2002, while keeping the 18th century city pub going to this day.

“It took off from there,” he said. “With the help of my son Vernon it has become a reasonable-sized business that now employs 74 people.”

But the firm has not pursued growth at all costs, he added. “The emphasis has always been on quality and consistency, which are hugely important but not easy to achieve.”

Despite the plant now producing around a thousand barrels a week, “We only deliver within a 50-mile radius, so we can look after it,” he said.

The fame of Herefordshire’s cider can obscure the fact that it is also England’s biggest producer of hops, and Wye Valley continues to source most of those it uses from within ten miles of the brewery.

“I have always been fond of proper cask ale,” Mr Amor explained. “That led to a festival (Oktoberfest) which has run every year since 1988, all for charitable reasons.”

The company’s support for good causes was among the reasons the city’s council gave for making the award.

“We also run a weekly quiz for charity at the Barrels, as well as a bonus ball and Sunday raffle,” he added.

“Over the years we have probably raised about three-quarters of a million pounds in all.”