Apprentices Look To The Future At Successful North West Family-Owned Brewers

Four talented young trainees at Salford-based brewer and pub retailer Hydes are toasting success after completing apprenticeships and landing permanent positions.

The quartet of apprentices including Ryan Littler, James Stevenson, William King and Jack Brickles have all recently completed their in-house apprenticeships with the family-owned independent brewery.

Ryan Littler is Hydes youngest deputy manager and works at The Golden Lion in Wrexham having achieved Hospitality Supervisor Level 3. He is joined by James Stevenson, duty manager at The Golden Lion who also studied Hospitality Supervisor Level 3. William King is commis chef at Hornsmill in Chester having achieved Production Chef Level 2 and Jack Brickles, is duty manager at The Horse and Farrier in Gatley who completed Hospitality Team Member Level. All completed their apprenticeship training this year.

The family-owned independent brewery, which celebrated its 160th-anniversary last year, first introduced its apprenticeship programme in 2017 and has numerous programmes across different areas of the brewery business and its pub estate. Hydes is currently seeking more apprentices to join the successful programme, which offers candidates the opportunity to earn an above apprentice-level wage whilst gaining valuable on the job training.

Since 2017, around 50 apprentices have progressed through the scheme, with many having developed into management roles since then.

Run in conjunction with external training providers, Hydes apprenticeships usually take between 12-24 months to complete. Learning is done on the job but employees have the support of a personal tutor monitoring them at regular intervals. Every apprenticeship has an ‘end point assessment’ which needs completing and submitting over a three-month period.

Laura Miller, training manager at Hydes, comments: “Apprenticeships are a great way for us to attract people to come and work with us. Employees get to learn new skills and we get to build a skilled, motivated workforce. We mainly focus on hospitality and catering apprenticeships but we’ve also offered apprenticeships for our Head Office and brewery teams and had two candidates already complete the Brewing Level 4 qualification with one apprentice just coming up to the end point assessment. We also currently have a Health & Safety apprentice nearing successful completion.

“Apprenticeships are very important to Hydes as a business as they play an important part in development and help employees progress their career with us. It’s also a brilliant way to grow talent from within. By offering competitive rates of pay and great career development prospects coupled with high levels of satisfaction and staff retention, we’re always on the lookout to attract    aspirational people into the business and help them create a promising future with an employer that values every single team member.”

Notable apprentice successes include Brandon Hodkinson at premium dining site, The Coach and Four in Wilmslow who now holds a Senior Sous Chef position. Tom Rostron, who was part of the Trailblazer group, the first group ever to go through the brand new Brewing Level 4 apprenticeship scheme and he is now Hydes’ Brewing Manager based at the brewery in Salford. Former apprentice Tom Allkins also works as a brewer after achieving the Brewing level 4 qualification last year. Tom is also a member of the Hydes family, his grandfather and uncle were brewers with Hydes too.

Newly qualified Ryan Littler at the Golden Lion in Wrexham, recently promoted to deputy manager, said: “I haven’t looked back since completing my apprenticeship with Hydes. I really enjoyed earning whilst I learned on the job, gaining valuable insight from my experienced colleagues. Hydes were very supportive of me throughout the entire programme and I was always made to feel like a valued team member.

“There’s also great opportunities for progression with Hydes and I was delighted to be promoted to deputy manager recently, proving that commitment is duly recognised. An apprenticeship is a great, positive way to carve out a career and I’ll be supporting future apprentices with Hydes as my career develops further.”

Hydes, with its brewery in Media City, was formed in 1863 and supplies beers to wholesalers, pub companies and other brewers throughout the UK and a pub retailing estate of nearly 50 pubs across the North West of England and North Wales.

For more information about Hydes apprenticeship programme, please contact: [email protected]