Scottish brewer with famed branding eyes bold expansion move

A beer-maker that is billed as the first brewery in the town of Paisley for more than 120 years has expanded its premises and ramped up production.

Two Towns Down was started by Sandy McKelvie and specialises in flavoured distilled beers. The brewery offers a broad range of products and flavours for purchase online and at its tap room, which is open on Fridays and Saturdays. The firm’s products are also stocked in various shops across Scotland. Each can sports the renowned Paisley pattern.

Two Towns Down has now taken over the building next door in a bid to expand the business by increasing production and boosting sales activity. Support for the expansion move was provided by Business Gateway.

Each of the beer-maker's cans sports the unique Paisley pattern.

When McKelvie 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 has a degree in brewing and distilling from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University. While he was a student, he received lots of training in local bars and microbreweries.

McKelvie received one-to-one specialist advice from Business Gateway adviser Robert Kinniburgh, who signposted Sandy to funding, which resulted in him receiving a business resilience grant from Renfrewshire Council. This gave him the opportunity to purchase new equipment to ramp up production capacity and output.

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.”

Kinniburgh added: “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.”

McKelvie prides the aesthetic of his products as a celebration of where he was born and raised, with each can sporting the distinctive pattern that has become associated with Scotland’s largest town.