Do you want a firetruck with your beer?

Craft beer has seen an exponential increase in popularity in the last four years, and with that increased demand have come entrepreneurs seeking to profit.

However, some of those capitalising on the trend were more likely to be found in the lab than down the bar only a few years ago. Imperial chemistry graduate, Douglas Hunt, is one such scientist turned entrepreneur, although his idea comes with a novel twist: Doug has retrofitted a fire engine into a beer-dispensing-festival-serving device under his company Pour Your Pint.

Doug studied chemistry at Imperial, before spending a year as a sabbatical officer for Imperial College Union. When he left Imperial, he went on to work in the field of accountancy, where he met his other two business partners, Laurence Culloty and Laurence Tarr.

I caught up with Laurence Culloty last Saturday in in Tottenham Hale to discuss craft beer, their plans for the future, and the political influence of Al Murray.

After the longest tube journey I’ve ever taken, I emerged from the tube station, immediately seeing a crowd of bearded twenty-somethings. Already I had an inkling that they were probably going to a craft beer brewery, and sure enough, after following the bearded crowd I eventually found the industrial estate, they were there, right next to a beer dispensing fire engine.

The fire engine in question has six self-service points supplied by one of Pour Your Pints’ partners, Robot Pub Group, with each one of them being able to be filled with any beverage of the event organiser’s choice. Their website boasts: “We realise that people enjoy drinks bars most when they are part of the action. That’s why we created the worlds first fire truck mobile outdoor bar which features self serve technology.”

Laurence remarked that the idea originally came about when he and his other future business partners were in a long queue at a festival waiting for a beer, and getting increasingly frustrated over missing the acts. They thought that there had to be a quicker way to get a beer, and, after copious research, they discovered that the self-service technology existed, and so decided to find a way to bring it to the portable market.

The fire engine as a method of transportation was originally Laurence’s father’s idea, stemming from a friend that converted a fire engine into a radio station over thirty years ago. The three accountants researched began to look for something that could transport itself easily. They initially had a look at slipstream caravans and the Routemaster buses, but in the end they felt that the fire engine wasn’t really something that had been done before. After a tense but successful venture onto eBay, the fire engine was purchased.

Luckily there weren’t too many obstacles in financing their business, since it was from their collective personal savings. Laurence did admit to me that their cash flow was not ideal at this moment in time, but their collective optimism for their business has made the investment worth it in their minds.

In the next five years Laurence hoped to expand the business to a wider market, making themselves the prime company when it comes to self-service technology to the festivals and events market.

Somewhat bizarrely, the fire engine has attracted considerable attention from Al Murray, the comedian whose act centres around the musings of a typical pub landlord. Al Murray recently travelled in the fire engine as a way to announce his satirical campaign in the upcoming election in the Thanet constituency, running against Nigel Farage, leader of the UKIP.

Laurence told how it originated from the Robot Pub group who had a contact in the Avalon group (Al Murray’s agent), and they were talking about the Pour Your Pint venture late one night, and he was talking about his political venture. He contacted Pour Your Pint and next thing you know, he was riding in the engine through the streets of Thanet.

When I asked Laurence if he had any thoughts on the nature of his satire and the state of British politics, Laurence was initially quite cautious, declaring that he wasn’t going to broadcast his political views, obviously quite wary of his new company’s reputation.

He did admit that there were certain elements of Murray’s performance that had an element of truth to them: one quip Murray said was that although many politicians break their promises, he was going to promise to not keep any of his promises. “I think there’s definitely an element of truth to that”, Laurence replied, before we went and got another pint.

Craft beer has increased in popularity over the past few years, even being added to the basket of goods for calculating inflation; however I was curious as to whether or not this is just a transient fad. During the course of the day, Beavertown brewery opened its doors to those that had come to the event, revealing a giant warehouse with several large distilleries.

Opened in 2011, Beavertown has gone from strength to strength, before moving to Tottenham Hale in May 2014. I managed to talk to one of the brewers about the merits of craft beer: “Once you get distilleries of this size, it gets really difficult to make a shit beer and I think to make a good craft beer there has to be something unique about it.”

Laurence also sounded in on this stating that “There’s a lot more variety of flavours, and ability to experiment with craft beers.”

This was definitely true with many of Beavertown’s brands: there was a particularly interesting Grapefruit IPA (Indian Pale Ale), as well as a 13.5% cherry flavoured IPA which was particularly delicious.

I was curious about his advice to future entrepreneurs, especially in light of the most recent Imperial entrepreneurial success story, Clotho, the eco-friendly online clothes trading store ran by two Imperial graduates.

Laurence concluded: “I would definitely take any advice you’re given (especially from people with expertise in the your field), play to your strengths, and above all, just take the risk as it is definitely rewarding.”

_The firetruck costs £2000 to rent, and your own beer must be provided. Check out www.pouryourpint.com for more information. _