UP CLOSE: Jem Ham, managing director and founder of Cheddar Ales

Cheddar Nub News aims to be supportive to every element of the community from business and shops to people and charities, clubs and sports organisations.

Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and is desperate to get back to normal.

We are profiling some of these local businesses and groups regularly over coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN CHEDDAR in the hope that we can be a supportive springboard for their full return to business as usual.

Today we talk to Jem Ham, who is the founder and managing director of Cheddar Ales.

During an in-depth Q and A session he talks about the impact the coronavirus has had on the hospitality sector and brewing, and what he would change in the village.

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Have you always lived in the Cheddar area and if not, what were the key considerations about moving here?

I have lived in the Cheddar area man and boy, brought up in nearby Weare and went to school through the local system finishing at Kings.

Tell us a bit about your business background Jem and how you ended up running Cheddar Ales?

My first job after school was for three years in banking in Bristol. I was offered a promotion but chose to go travelling to Australia instead where I spent a year experiencing all it had to offer and working my way around.

When I returned I bumped into a guy who worked at local Butcombe Brewery in my local pub and applied for some summer work - 14 years later I left to start Cheddar Ales after gaining invaluable experience of how and occasionally how not to make beer. It took a year to source the equipment, brewery site and organise all the red tape stuff with planning/HMRC, etc.

I worked as a locum brewer while doing so in Kent and Wiltshire and finally brewed my first brew in Cheddar in October 2006.

I knew I could brew good beer and had a very good idea of what sort of beer people like to drink but very much had to learn on the job with running finances (the banking helped) and actually selling my wares to pubs. I have also learned to be pretty good at fixing things and being adaptable helps enormously.

What do you like about Cheddar? How are you involved in the local community?

As I said before I have grown up around Cheddar and have many friends around who have been here for as long as I have. I have also made a lot of new friends especially since opening the brewery strangely.

Cheddar has a great community spirit and since we opened our Tap Room last summer we have had fabulous support and we look forward to building on that in 2021 and beyond. We don't get much time as a small team to be too actively involved in the local community aside from supporting our local pubs, we have however recently supported the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) organisation and the Mendip Hills Fund by donating a percentage of profits from the sale of our Hardrock bottles to their fantastic cause.

A lot of inspiration for beer names has come from the local landscape and landmarks, and it feels right we should put a little bit back to help others enjoy our beautiful area.

The coronavirus pandemic has been difficult for the hospitality industry and pubs in particular - how has it had an impact on you and what are your plans for the future?

When the first lockdown hit we immediately lost 80 per cent of our business as pubs closed. We were lucky to have our own bottling line and our online sales in 2020 actually increased eightfold which proved to be some compensation to the lost pub income.

We also opened our outside Tap Room in the summer when restrictions were eased and that proved to be a huge success, it also made us realise that we haven't engaged with our own local demographic enough in the past and that I am sure has changed for good now and is here to stay.

The second and third lockdowns have been equally as damaging as pubs are now all closed and the weather is cold so people in general are drinking less. Thankfully the furlough scheme means we can keep jobs on hold until the good times return hopefully later in 2021.

What businesses do you like and use in Cheddar?

It goes without saying that we like and use most of the pubs in Cheddar - the Bath Arms, the Riverside, the White Hart and the football club have all been staunch supporters and we wish them all the best for a successful restart in 2021 and for better times ahead. We love Cobbs the butcher especially as they use our beer in their pies, I can vouch that their pies are amazing.

We also have some great support from Cheddar Tyres, Warrens Hill Garage, WC Maunders and Extra Mile Printing to name a few. On a personal level we also love the Spice Cottage and Zen Thai, and when open the many cafes up the Gorge are a delight when quiet.

[BThe lockdown has been very difficult for many people - how do you think that Cheddar as a village has coped?[.B]

I suspect Cheddar has coped as well as anywhere else. We haven't seen anything like Covid-19 before and hopefully once it is managed as well as it can be things will return to how they were in due course.

There are some very caring people in Cheddar and I am aware of groups on social media offering to assist those in need. There has been a lot of needless bickering and arguing over a multitude of opinions on a multitude of subjects recently but if people took a more balanced view of the world and looked out for their fellow man we would be in a better place I think.

If there was one thing in Cheddar you would change, what would it be?

That's a tricky one, I am torn between two. I would stop Tweentown and the Gorge being used as a racetrack at weekends.

I am not sure how Gorge residents put up with the noise and I am surprised no-one has been seriously hurt yet.

I was a young lad who loved the thrill of driving fast once but find it incredibly tedious and anti-social these days. I would also bring back the go-cart track, maybe the two things go hand in hand?

Also I would like to see the decision makers at Longleat Estates wake up and listen to what the village wants, the Cox`s Mill was once an extremely viable pub but has been left to rot to be replaced by a car park? Really?

It will only be a matter of time before the cable car plan rears its ugly head again methinks, not that I am necessarily against that as it would bring more visitors to the village but where then does it stop?

A restaurant at the other end? A hotel? All on AONB land. Hmmm.

This might be an impossible question, but which of the beers you have brewed over the years at Cheddar Ales has been your favourite? And when they are open, which pub serves the best pint of a Cheddar Ales beer?

My favourite beer changes to be honest depending on what's available and also depending on the weather and my mood. I love a pint of Hardrock while our most popular beer is still overwhelmingly Potholer by a country mile.

I also tend to drink our seasonal specials when we have brewed them, maybe that is because I know they will only be around for a while?

As for the best pint in a pub, I couldn't possibly comment but any pub that sells Cheddar Ales must be doing something right and as such I commend them all.

If you could choose one famous person to play you in a movie about your life, who would it be and why?

Ha ha, that is such a tricky question. Let me turn this around and say a young Ian Botham, he was my hero when I was growing up - who didn't want to bat and bowl like him and thrash the Aussies?

Who also wasn't jealous of his renowned drinking and extracurricular exploits at the time? He would love to have owned a brewery I'm sure.