In 2008, a pair of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed brewers entered the Dragons’ Den with an idea.
They had a refreshing brand that rebelled against the corporate approach of most breweries – and a product packed with flavour to match.
But what they didn’t have was funding.
James Watt and Martin Dickie applied to the BBC show and “pitched their hearts out” in an attempt to earn financial backing from some of the best-known businesspeople in Britain.
But it wasn’t to be. BrewDog’s owners didn’t make it past the screen test, and were “totally crushed” by the rejection.
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Fast-forward 12 years: BrewDog is worth more than £1bn.
According to Watt, the offer BrewDog planned to put on the Dragons table – 20% for £100,000 – would have pocketed the bidder a cool £360m today.
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But whilst the rebuff was a big blow at the time, it actually proved to be a blessing in disguise.
The producers’ snub forced BrewDog to build an entirely different funding community-style model – one that offered equity in exchange for investment.
Their most recent campaign saw 47,000 people pump more than £8.7m into the company.
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“Loads of you asked what happened after Dragon’s Den turned us down in ’08,” Watts wrote on Twitter.
“We went back to the drawing board & came up with a radically new business model based on community ownership.
“Instead of 1 Dragon, we got 130,000 Equity Punks [and] BrewDog is much better because of that.”
During a dizzying decade, BrewDog has branched out from brewing to build restaurants and bars across the world – with premises in the USA, Spain, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Belgium and France.
They’ve accrued a reputation for doing things differently, and even in the COVID climate – which according to Watts has been “incredibly tough” – BrewDog is still pushing boundaries.
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They were among the first to announce they’d be pouring their first pint at the stroke of 12.01 on 4 July to mark the historic reopening of English pubs after lockdown (tickets for the celebration in Manchester sold out in minutes).
But elsewhere, the brand is working with zero-emissions company Arrival to create a network of delivery trucks and become the “most sustainable brewery in the world.”
The BrewDog community – which might not have ever materialised if the brewers had met the Dragons – has also played a pivotal role in the Scottish brewery surviving the pandemic.
In an open letter on LinkedIn, Watt thanked his “brilliant teams” for delivering a “miracle against all odds.”
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He wrote: “We owe each other, and especially those leaving, a debt of gratitude.
“Their selfless act has allowed us to better safeguard the livelihoods of over 1,800 team members. Furthermore they all played a pivotal role in the development of a business that we, and millions of people all over the planet, know and love.
“Your contributions made a huge difference and you will forever be part of our story.”
Feature
Liam Broady is on the comeback – here’s why you need to watch out for him at Wimbledon
The Manc
Local tennis player Liam Broady is quietly rising back up the ranks on the ITF Tour, and here’s why we think you should watch out for him come Wimbledon 2026 this summer.
He is physical proof that the ATP Tour ranking means so much to a player’s career.
The Stockport-born tennis player has suffered many injury setbacks since turning pro in 2014. With a host of ankle and back injuries plaguing his playing career, he has had to turn to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Tour to climb the rankings once again.
He is currently placed at 283* on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour after reaching two semi-finals in the space of a month.
With wins on two of Portugal’s hard courts in Faro and Santo António, the 32-year-old has climbed from rank 303 at the start of the year to under the threshold in less than three months.
His hard work on outdoor courts is paying off as his seeding is slowly improving, and his opponents are becoming less of a challenge.
For the unititated, the ATP ranking is decided by a points system that determines your playing level, and therefore who you can possibly draw, with lower seeds getting tougher games as they need more points, and vice versa.
These point tallies factor into every win, loss, serve, and shot as it propels you up or down the table.
With an injury over Christmas, the Stopfordian Team GB player came back stronger for the start of the annual tournament calendar and now looks to be in fighting form on the ITF Tour.
He’s definitely had to tackle some obstacles over the years, both on and off the court…
Competing solely on outdoor hard courts to gain his fitness levels back is necessary, but the grass courts – his speciality – will come around with time and consistent form, with Wimbledon being his home tournament and his highlight of the competitive calendar.
His career best ranking was 93, after becoming the first British wildcard entry to beat an ATP top five player in 2023 when defeating Casper Rudd on Wimbledon’s centre court.
His win against the Norwegian in round two sent him into the top 100 rankings for the first time, and into the shining spotlight alongside British tennis stars.
The adverse effects of time away from the tour are clear to see with Broady’s peaks and dips in the table below; this means taking a hit to player motivation, game-to-game momentum and teamworking within doubles pairs.
Liam Broady’s career rankings progression chart. (Credit: ATP Tour)
It is a likely situation for players to neglect their doubles career without the added stress of injury, so if they are to arise, it does not just impact individual physicality levels but also communication between doubles pairs.
A fellow British player with similar injury problems is Emma Raducanu, who rose to fame with a shocking US Open grand slam win as a qualifier. Since her win, she has had multiple surgeries, which saw her plummet down WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) standings due to time spent off court.
The issues that come with injury upsets can make a career really difficult to reclaim, even at a young age; tour rankings can be brutal on game time and match opponents, such as Broady’s Wimbledon draw against Holland’s Van De Zandschulp and Raducanu’s recent draw against American no.3 Anisimova.
We hope to see Team GB’s athletes fit and ready to fight on tour, and we have a strong feeling we’ll see native talent Broady back in the spotlight where he belongs.
Gig review | KEO at the O2 Ritz in Manchester – Sometimes you just KNOW…
Danny Jones
Fontaines D.C., Turnstile, Wunderhorse, Sleep Token, Neck Deep; sometimes it only takes a few listens and a live show to KNOW that a band is going to catch fire and go on to be huge – for Audio North and KEO, it only took a few.
But having now seen KEO for a third time, collectively, we’re more convinced than ever that they’re going to be massive.
Sadly, a prior engagement meant that we just missed catching the support act, Tooth (though we did hear great things rumbling around the eager young crowd), but there was no chance we were going to miss this lot show off how very good they are at what they do.
And there was absolutely no chance they were going to disappoint us, either…
We first caught this fast-rising post-grunge outfit live in action at Kendal Calling last year, where they somehow turned a daytime slot on the Woodlands stage into a moody mid-evening mosh.
They had even less fully produced and officially released music out then, but then we had the pleasure of watching them at The Key Club in Leeds this past October, and they were even better; punchier, more graduated at their game, and their fandom seemed plenty strong already.
As it turns out, that same progression proved true in Manchester, as KEO played their biggest headline show to date, and that same cult following only appeared more fervent than ever.
They might be based down in the capital, with roots in Portugal, brothers Finn and Conor having grown up there, but they certainly know a thing or two about how to please a Northern audience.
Of course, we’re sure they go off just as hard down in the capital – in fact, we’re certain they do – but the response they got from two sold-out rooms full of Yorkshire folk and us equally discerning Mancs felt like they had well and truly passed the litmus.
With flying colours, may we add.
Everything from the raw ’90s rock feel to the aesthetic hits just right. (Credit: Audio North)
It’s also worth noting that these London lads have built up this hype like very few ever manage to do: by developing a sterling live reputation right from the off and putting top-notch shows first.
For those unaware, they only just released their first five-track EP, Siren, back in June 2025, yet they’ve been packing out venues and festival stages pretty much since day dot, with die-hards growing their love for the band via performance and initially only learning the lyrics through social clips and snippets online.
While some have questioned why they’ve been chosen to headline this year’s Neighbourhood Festival here in Manchester city centre before they’ve even dropped a debut album, you only need to hear the entire Ritz screaming back the lyrics to ‘I Lied, Amber’, ‘Thorn’ and ‘Hands’ to know they fit the bill.
Frontman Finn pours so much unbridled power and emotion into his vocals, guitarist Jimmy Lanwern didn’t even need to look to know that his riffs were ripping the roof off, and they’ve quickly moved far beyond the early Wunderhorse parallels – they’re their own beast just waiting to be fully woken.
The Manc -
30th June 2020 
