Oh brother! Seven Salford brothers talk about the highs and lows of running a family brewery

“Well, we’re constantly fighting,” jokes Keith McAvoy about what it’s like be part of a business with seven brothers.

“There’s plenty of that, I guess growing up as any typical siblings.  When there’s seven of us, plus four sisters as well –  there’s 11 of us in total with an age range now of 32 to 54 – things can get a little bit tetchy now and again but on the whole, we all get on really really well. It’s probably better now than when we had to live together all the time.

“It’s been interesting, never boring. We are pretty close I must say.”

We’ve had our ups and downs being in business together, but we’re family at the end of the day, we always end up forgiving each other

Are the sisters involved?

“No, they’re not. However, they’ve decided to go and start something themselves separately but making gin. They’re going to call themselves the Four Sisters Distillery. They could be ready for launch in December,” Keith added.

“I think they’ve felt a little bit left out these last three-and-a-half years, so they’ve gone and created their own.”

The workload for the Seven Bro7hers at their Salford brewery looks something like this:

• Keith is in charge of the commercial side of things
• Gregg, the youngest, is head brewer
• Nathan looks after all the production
• Kit looks after the business aspects of running the brewery
• Luke keeps on top of IT to make sure the company is running properly.
• Danny is in charge of operations, making sure the brewery is as it should be
• And Guy takes care of project management, such as special projects.

“There’s also a nephew, Danny, who takes care of logistics. My [Keith’s] partner Alison looks after all the social media and marketing side of things. Then there’s Samantha, our niece, who is our graphic designer. And whenever, whoever, as and when we decide to draft them in,” laughs Keith as he realises how many more of the family have worked for the business.

But how often do they all see each other?

Keith said: “The seven of us brothers do see each other quite regularly, and we see our sisters all the time. We pretty much don’t live anywhere further than a 10-mile radius from each other. It’s amazing. Some of us have tried living abroad, such as Oslo and New Zealand, but we’re all back together now. So mum and dad have done a good job.”