A Scottish brewer who "triumphed over adversity" to build his own business is celebrating its expansion.
The businessman who was told he may never learn to read went on to secure a university degree before building his brewery venture.
Sandy McKelvie's Paisley brewing company Two Towns Down specialises in flavoured distilled beers and is now growing its presence.
Described as the first brewery in Paisley for 125 years, it has expanded its premises and increased production after receiving specialist support from Business Gateway.
Mr McKelvie "prides the aesthetic of his products as a celebration of where he was born and raised, with each can sporting the Paisley pattern".
The Scottish Government agency said he "attributes his success to his challenging upbringing", adding: "When Sandy was a child, his parents were told he may never learn to read due to dyslexia and dyspraxia, but he has triumphed over this adversity and is now the owner of a successful business."
Business Gateway also said: "Sandy has a degree in brewing and distilling at Heriot-Watt University. While he was a student, Sandy received lots of training in local bars and microbreweries, all of which helped him in his journey to where he is now."
READ MORE:
- BBC drama confusion sparks boost for island brewery
- Traditional pub in Scottish seaside town on market
- Whisky attraction hits major milestone
Two Towns Down has now taken over the building next door in a bid to expand the business by offering increased production area and supporting greater sales activity.
With plans to expand his business and a desire to speed up his manufacturing process, he approached Business Gateway for help.
Mr McKelvie received one to one specialist advice from Business Gateway adviser Robert Kinniburgh, who signposted him to funding, which resulted in him receiving a Business Resilience grant from Renfrewshire Council, made available through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Opportunity
This gave him the opportunity to purchase new equipment which speeds up production capacity and output, allowing him to increase his production capabilities and create more beer.
The support received from Business Gateway was "key to him being able to expand into the building next door".
Mr Kinniburgh also arranged specialist consultancy support which helped improve both traditional and digital marketing for Two Towns Down. This led to an increase in customer base both in Renfrewshire and further afield.
Mr McKelvie said: "The advice and support I received from Business Gateway was fantastic and really allowed me to make tangible growth in my business. The funding Robert directed me to was essential for improving production and allowing me to create more beer."
Mr Kinniburgh said: "It is amazing to see the growth of Sandy’s business, especially the expansion into bigger premises. We could not be happier with what he has achieved and can see the business growing a lot more. His development of his online brand and his expansion is just the beginning, and we cannot wait to see him flourish."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel