Simpsons Malting

The Simpson family has been in the malting business since 1866 and the company is the largest family-owned maltster left in the UK. Simpsons' headquarters and largest malting plant are located at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. Their agricultural subsidiary, McCreath Simpson & Prentice is located nearby. Berwick lies between the Lammermuir Hills to the north and the Cheviots to the south, an area famous for its barley.

The soils are derived from glacial drift, which gives the lightness necessary for the growth of high quality barley. In fact, the very name Berwick is derived from the early Anglo-Saxon words for Ber(e) = barley, and wick = small town.

At their Tivetshall Maltings in Norfolk, the second largest production site in the Simpsons group, all of their roasted malt is produced and also the bulk of their export tonnage. At Mistley in Essex is Simpsons' southernmost production unit concentrating on the production of lager malt. All Simpsons' malts are made exclusively from the highest quality two-row malting barleys. Simpsons store almost 100% of their annual barley requirements at harvest time in their own quality assured storage areas and are able to provide full traceability of products from seed to finished malt.