OUR STORY
We employ and train people with learning disabilities to brew and serve our delicious beer.
Everyone has the right to a full and active life and being a paid a fair wage for a fair shift can do wonders for our self-worth. Having a job helps us to be more independent, it builds our self-confidence and develops skills which we find useful in all aspects of life.
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Astonishingly, only 1 out of every 20 adults with a learning disability in the UK is in paid employment. We don’t think that’s right and so all of our bar staff and assistant brewers are neurodivergent and/or have a learning disability. It’s what we’ve always done, ever since our first brew in 2015 and what we’ll keep on doing with every beer that we serve. Because things need to change.
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As an award winning social enterprise, every penny you spend goes straight back into helping us offer more employment, so we’ll keep on trying to change the world one beer at a time. After all, the more beer we sell, the more jobs we create.
THE MORE BEER WE SELL,
THE MOE JOBS WE CREATE.
OUR TEAM
BEN FLEET - HEAD BREWER [MAGICIAN-IN-CHIEF]
Ben’s earned his stripes in the brewing industry, having working in production, brewing and packaging for over 10 years. He joined Ignition in the summer of 2024 having come to us from south London brewery Drop Project. He’s a self-confessed geek, obsessed with all things beer, fermentation and microbes – those around us and those inside of us. And when he’s not cooking up new recipes for us, you’ll find him making cider, sauerkraut and hot sauce on the side.
He loves cycling and climbing but for our Head Alchemist nothing beats finding an obscure historical pub in which to enjoy a pint of cask ale and packet of crisps. No nuts here. please.
HORACE
TAPROOM
LEGEND
BENEDICT
PIED PIPER
OF BEER
TOM
HOP PICKING
HERO
MICHAEL B
PINT POURING PERFECTIONIST
CHRIS
RESIDENT
DJ
AJ
BREWERY WINGMAN
MICHAEL D
STEALTH BOTTLE LABELLER
MICHAELA
BREWHOUSE EXTRAODINAIRE
SUPPORT US.
WE CAN'T DO THIS ON OUR OWN
Ignition is a testament to the support of our local community and generous sponsors. Our Taproom was opened thanks to your crowdfunding efforts, our brewing kit was sold to us for just £1 (yes, really!) by a keen advocate of our mission and our beer garden was funded by Clearance Capital. And we’re super grateful to have received funding from Lewisham Council that kept us going through Covid.
Being a small, cause-driven social enterprise, our costs are higher than they might otherwise be. We do everything manually, from brewing to bottling as this gives our team more paid work. But it also means that our margins for investment are much slimmer than they should be.
We’re always looking for financial support and new sponsors. If you’d like to help us with our mission of supporting more adults with learning disabilities into employment we’d love to hear from you. Whether you can spare a team of volunteers for a day, would like to donate equipment or are interested in funding some of our week, we’d love to discuss it over a beer.
THE PERFECT BLEND
BRIGHTER HORIZONS IS RE-ALE-Y IMPORTANT TO US TOO
Ignition is owned and operated by Brighter Horizons, a local charity that supports neurodivergent adults and people with learning disabilities. Operating as a trading subsidiary of the charity, Ignition furthers Brighter Horizons mission of enabling independence. It's the reason we pay our staff the London Living Wage; everyone deserves a fair wage for a fair hour’s work.
It's flagship centre is based in Downham and supports over 70 adults, providing access to over 30 activities each week which promote health and wellbeing, independence, healthy relationships and personal expression. With a specific focus on being rooted in the community, and over a million combinations of activities, each adults’ timetable is totally unique.
