Suffolk's Aspall cider factory given £13m upgrade by US owner Molson Coors

A cider factory which has been on the same site for nearly 300 years has been given a £13m makeover.

The Aspall Cyder House in Suffolk has been updated as part of a £16m investment in the Aspall brand by Molson Coors, which bought the company in 2018.

The three-year project has seen the site significantly modernised, boosting production capacity by 60% to about 70 million pints a year.

Other new features include upgrades to its waste water treatment plant to reduce the site’s environmental impact, ensuring that all waste water is cleaned on site, rather than having to be transported off site, before it is returned to the water cycle.

A new weighbridge has also been installed.

The company said that those two measures would reduce freight traffic in the area, taking 800 tankers a year off the roads.

Damian Mills, Aspall’s head of supply chain, said: “Aspall has been produced on site for nearly 300 years and is one of Suffolk’s best-loved exports.

"Our investment in the Cyder House will ensure this continues for many years to come," he added.

“The renovation is good for us and for the village of Aspall, which is such an important part of our brand’s heritage. 

"We’ve become more efficient, reduced our environmental impact on the local area, all while creating a more productive manufacturing process that will enable us to grow and continue to play a valuable part in the local economy.”

A new fermentation building has also been built to modernise the process, and reformatting of the tanks where the cider is blended and stored, to allow for future expansion.

Henry Chevallier Guild, eighth-generation of the founding family of Aspall Cyder and brand ambassador, said: “Since Molson Coors acquired Aspall in 2018, I’ve worked closely with the management team to ensure that the passion our family established over hundreds of years for producing exceptional quality products, grounded in our local community, has continued.

"This investment demonstrates the scale of Molson Coors’ commitment to the Aspall brand and will ensure Aspall’s premium products have a very bright future.”