Tennent’s owner helps Isle of Lewis shop hit the road

An Isle of Lewis shop has been given by a boost in the form of a new delivery van donated by brewer Tennent Caledonian.

Alastair Campbell, managing director of Tennent Caledonian, with Shawbost owner Michael Fitzpatrick

The Tennent’s parent company even loaded up the Renault Trafic van with lager at its Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow before handing over the keys to Shawbost Shop and Café owner Michael Fitzpatrick, who is plannning to take on more staff to help with deliveries.

Fitzpatrick had launched a crowdfunding campaign to buy a van, to provide a delivery service to the 20-mile stretch of coast between Lewis and Stornoway, where many communities do not have a local shop.

He said: “We’re tremendously grateful to Tennent Caledonian for donating the van, which we’ll have so many uses for. We’ll be setting up a delivery service covering the entire 20-mile stretch between here and Stornoway, with no set time slots and a very small minimum spend.

“Many of these communities don’t have a local shop, so with the van we can be really flexible and deliver to our customers up and down Lewis at any time of the day. They need only give us a ring and we’ll pop straight up. We’ll also be attending various community events acting as a mobile shop. I’ll even be able to take on two new members of staff to help with all the additional work.”

Tennent Caledonian managing director Alastair Campbell added: “When we saw that Michael had launched a crowdfunding campaign to buy the van we simply had to help.

“We work to support the licensed trade and communities across Scotland every day, and so were more than happy to lend Michael a hand. We’re delighted to support his efforts to serve the community and create valuable employment on the Isle of Lewis.”