Have a very sustainable festive season! We look at how our beers can reach you better this Christmas, with a little help from our friends.
Back in 2021, a student from UWE approached us looking for info regarding her dissertation. Bethan was researching the potential for e-cargo bikes to be used as a sustainable solution for ULMD. That's 'Urban Last Mile Deliveries' to the rest of us! We talked about manufacturers such as ourselves here at Bristol Beer Factory using e-cargo bikes to reach the ‘last mile’, lessening the number of vans on the road. As we journey on the road to sustainability, it’s a topic we are happy to chat about all day.
Now, let us take you on that journey with us...
Fast forward to Autumn 2022, and the Global Cycling Network kitted us out with some Raleigh Bikes to test out ULMD for our trade customers. So that’s what we did! Conor Dunne and Manon Lloyd joined the team as our honourary (and extremely overqualified) bike riders; you can check out the story highlights on our Instagram and in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJa0t4nQ4BE
If you’re a bar selling our beer and you’re local to the brewery, it may be that Sales team member Harry will literally hop on a bike to deliver to you, thanks to these bikes! But, there is a limit to e-cargo bike deliveries – beer is heavy. Have you ever tried to lift a full keg?! It's one of the reasons we still need our fleet of vans and draymen to get enough beer to all the pubs keeping BBF flowing in Bristol and beyond.
How can you make the sustainable choice at home? It's easy; let us take the responsibility. By choosing local delivery, you give us the power to get your beer to you in the most efficient way. Sometimes this will be a same-day delivery, sometimes it may take an extra day or two; we’ll drop it when we are in your area, reducing trips and the numbers of vehicles on the road. If you’re within cycling range, then you've probably received beers from us on bikes already!
Our speedy eco-partners have included Shift and the e-cargo bike delivery company, Zedify. As any road cyclist will know, built-up cities, especially hilly ones like Bristol, are tricky to navigate. When it comes to larger orders or further distances within a Bristol or Bath postcode, we call Will. The one-man-band delivers for New Bristol Brewery, among others, working more effectively the more deliveries he makes in a day.
By supporting a local and reliable independent driver we’re feeding back into our community, and saving on more of those precious gas miles.
What we ask ourselves, and what Bethan’s dissertation came down to, is do e-cargo bike deliveries benefit BBF as well as the environment? When they can be used for appropriate home and trade deliveries – yes! It isn’t necessarily always the easiest or cheapest option, but environmentally, it’s a saving we want and need to make. Improving quality of life for our team and our neighbours by reducing congestion around the brewery site is an obvious win, with less vans and lorries on the surrounding streets. If there’s one thing we’re here for, it’s protecting the sanctity of North Street and the city we love. We stand independent!
Last orders for Christmas 2022 are Wednesday 21st December, including local deliveries.
