Up to 100 jobs will be created in Fordham after plans to build the UK’s first sake brewery were approved.
Japanese company Dojima is to build the brewery on the Fordham Abbey Estate after the East Cambs District Council’s planning committee approved its application yesterday.
Up to £9 million will be invested into the brewery and once built it is expected to attract 30,000 visitors every year.
Case officer, Rebecca Saunt says the brewery can “become an economic catalyst for the area” and a “leading tourism and visitor attraction.”
She said: “The broader plans for the site are equally as exciting. It has been apparent from the outset that Dojima are keen to work with the local community and develop a scheme which is sensitive to its location and historic setting and we are confident that this will continue to be the case.”
Disused agricultural barns on the historic Fordham Abbey site will be demolished to make way for the brewery, which is expected to create up to 100 jobs in East Cambridgeshire over five years.
There were no objections to Dojima’s application, which planning committee chairman, Joshua Schumann said potentially has “large community and economic impacts and has already generated a great deal of interest.”
A community consultation was held at Fordham Abbey in December last year to discuss the application and a Dojima spokesman said: “We can promise that we will do our absolute best to maintain the beauty of Fordham Abbey and make it as thriving as we can. We would also like to get more involved with the local community and do whatever we can do to help.
“We really appreciate your support and we need all the help we can get from communities far and wide.”
What is Sake?
• Sake is a Japanese rice wine made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran.
• Sake is produced by a brewing process like that of beer, where the starch is converted into sugars before being converted into alcohol.
• In Japan it is often served with special ceremony – gently warmed in small earthenware or porcelain bottle called a tokkuri, and sipped from a small porcelain cup called a sakazuki.
• Undiluted Sake usually contains 18-20 per cent ABV.
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