John O'Groats business finds bottle return reality is harder to swallow
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Simon Cottam of John O’Groats Brewery, a Caithness Chamber of Commerce business member, gives a business perspective on the deposit return scheme
For many, the John O’Groats Brewery – situated in the oldest surviving building in John O’Groats, the “Last House” – is a characterful craft brewery selling locally made ales and an ideal pit-stop along the NC500 or John O’Groats Trail.
But for the team, our independent brewery represents a culmination of years of passion, experimentation and hard graft.
We first set up our four-barrel brewery in the Old Fire Station in John O’Groats in 2015, carefully crafting, perfecting, and developing our range of cask ales. Starting out by selling our bottles locally before keenly expanding our distribution through stockists across the north Highlands and on to the wider UK through our website.
In 2019 we opened our visitor centre with a bar and brewery and have been an integral part of the John O’Groats experience ever since.
People flock to Caithness for the stunning scenery, dramatic coastline, and chance to observe some of the amazing wildlife of our land, skies and shores. Visitors to the brewery are keen to hear stories of Jan de Groot and his travels across the Pentland Firth, whilst sampling our small batch ales drawn from unspoilt Highland waters.
Every drop of John O’Groats Brewery ale is crafted only in the village of John O’Groats using water from the local area, an area we not only call home but deeply respect and are keen to protect.
It goes without saying that in theory, we are in full support of the ethos of the deposit return scheme (DRS), which aims to protect our environment and preserve the natural beauty of Scotland and tackle issues of recycling, litter and landfill.
However, in reality, the DRS represents a huge area of concern and an unprecedented burden for our business.
There has been very little support financially, practically, or instructively to help businesses prepare for the scheme. And until recent announcements by the new First Minister, countless calls to government for delay or adaptation to the scheme from business leaders and industry bodies have gone ignored. However, logistically we are still preparing to implement an unworkable scheme which has very little consideration for the impact on our business operations. It is extremely disheartening to see regulation driven through in this way.
Currently this blanket approach legislation will see the majority of drinks businesses soon forced to operate a return point within their premises. Businesses must be prepared to accept all types of drinks containers from milk bottles to cans and plastic bottles, provide a customer refund and safely and securely store recycling waste.
For our business, running a visitor experience, busy production facility, shop and bar from a modest “but-and-ben” house dating back to the 1700s, storage is already at a premium. Finding space to securely house unknown quantities of recycling and process returns is going to be a huge challenge for both ourselves in John O’Groats and no doubt for businesses across the north Highlands.
We are justifiably worried about the detrimental impact on the high level of customer experience we have created in our brewery and no less concerned about cash flow burdens and administrative implications surrounding the deposit refunds.
With regards to export of our products outside of Scotland to the wider UK, current guidelines mean our customers over the border will also be charged an extra 20p per bottle on sales of our beers, skewing the price of products within an already highly competitive marketplace.
The small scale of our batch brewery makes it completely unworkable for us to distinguish between products designed for the Scottish or wider UK market. Furthermore, with no DRS scheme of their own, customers outside of Scotland will have no way to recoup these costs. For producers of spirits and higher sales value drinks these increased costs may be easier to digest, but the percentage increase on items such as bottled beer will be far more obvious to the consumer.
It is welcome to see proposed alcohol marketing restrictions sent back for review by the new first minster as a ban on branded merchandise would indeed hit the revenue of our visitor centre while it is highly questionable whether it would have any effect on the government’s intended impact.
We are exceptionally proud of our locally made ales and, along with many in the brewing industry, promote and support responsible alcohol consumption. Scotland has successfully marketed alcohol for decades and the industry supports over 160 brewers in Scotland, generating sales of £380 million a year and directly employing 1500 people.
Future regulatory burdens are certain to have a negative impact on businesses, at a time when the cost-of-living crisis, energy prices, inflation and Covid recovery are huge factors in difficult business conditions.
We hope to see dialogue and supportive action from the Scottish Government which is in serious danger of taking a sledgehammer to the industry. We would like to see an appropriate deposit return scheme implemented in Scotland which sets businesses and users up to thrive rather than fail.
