AWARD-WINNING Tiny Rebel’s new £2.6m brewery and visitor attraction is close to completion and ready for a summer opening.

The new facility at Wern Industrial Estate, Rogerstone, will enable the company to produce up to five million litres per annum – or some 90 million pints – a far cry from its origins in a garage five years ago.

Since the brewery was started by co-founders Brad Cummings and Gazz Williams, the business has developed significant markets both domestically and globally, and currently brews two million litres a year. The company has also opened two Tiny Rebel Bars in Cardiff and Newport, while one of its core range, the Welsh red ale Cwtch – was named the Champion Beer of Britain 2015.

The new facility - designed by Powell Dobson - will cover nearly 30,000 sq ft, and will include a bar and event space for up to 400 people, as well as capacity for bottling and canning lines.

Speaking at a meeting of networking group The Forum, Ian Cummings, advisor to Tiny Rebel Brewing Co, said, the new facility was a key milestone in the brewery’s journey.

“This is a business that grew out of two lads who loved brewing in their spare time, and who experimented with different brews for a year in the back of a garage, before agreeing they had six core beers they could sell and market.

“The on-going issue has been having enough capacity to cope with demand, no sooner had we thought we located an adequate home for a new brewery, demand then took us beyond that location.

“We realised we needed to look at a far bigger scale to match the potential of the business and we believe this new facility will more than accommodate our current and future capacity.”

Ian said the summer opening should provide the senior team with some time to enjoy their journey and success.

But he said work was ongoing to develop a number of overseas markets, including China, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. “Bottling and canning makes that much easier to achieve.”

And he said there would be an increasing focus on both maintaining and developing the Tiny Rebel brand.

“Brand is so important in the food and beverage market, and there is always a danger that there is a dilution of that brand as you become more mainstream, and less, artisan.”

Ian is well-known in the South Wales business community. He founded C&C Electrical in 1987, and in 2002, he purchased Whitehead Electrical Engineering, incorporating a mechanical section. Today, the business Whitehead Building Services employs more than 170 staff at three locations across South Wales and the West of England.

· The Forum is a South Wales networking group sponsored by Cardiff Metropolitan University, Newport-based Kilsby Williams, Berry Smith, Santander, and Effective Communication.