A BREWING business set up to safeguard the future of a family farm is now striving to become Yorkshire's top alcoholic drinks brand.

Wold Top Brewery was founded in 2003 out of a need to diversify from traditional farming, and is now run by the fourth generation of the Mellors.

Nominated for The Press Family Business of the Year award, it has grown from brewing 1,600 litres per week with no paid staff to 40,000 litres per week with a team of 20.

Its vision was to use the home and Wolds-grown cereals and the farm's chalk-filtered water to brew Yorkshire's best real ales, to safeguard the farm for future generations. Eighteen years on, its ambition is to become Yorkshire's leading alcoholic drinks brand.

Founders Tom and Gill Mellor handed over the reins to daughter, Kate and son-in-law Alex Balchin in 2016. In 2019, Kate's sister Jenni joined to strengthen its strategic marketing capability.

Covid-19 trading conditions hit turnover, but the brewery has bounced back to pre-2020 levels. It retained all staff post-furlough and recruited two new members to prepare for growth.

The strategy has been to grow the bottled beer side to ship in pallets and minimise the carbon footprint. Exports account for 15 per cent of the business, while Wold Top also works with supermarkets and has a thriving online business.

All staff undergo training and are encouraged to undertake additional job specific training, ensuring a capable and motivated multi-functional team.

Wold Top has raised over £100,000 for charity and provided employment in an area of rural deprivation and opportunities for students.

Its award-winning beer uses 98 per cent British ingredients - the family grow 95 per cent of the barley used and has its own source of water from boreholes on the farm.

They work with RSPB and stewardship bodies to nurture the environment; monitoring studies show they are attracting more species of birds as a result. Its 35 acres of species-rich chalk grassland is home to varied flora and fauna of ecological importance.

They planted a two-acre Wold Top Wood to help offset its carbon footprint and installed two wind turbines that make the most of the exposed situation and provide 90 per cent of the power for the brewery, farm and house. Waste water from the brewery is filtered back, and recycled.

The spent grains feed local cattle and the hops are recycled to make effective garden mulch.