Two men who bonded over their mutual love of beer while working in a chemists are enjoying success in the expanding market for craft beers. 

Andrew Birkby, 30, and William Harris, 26, of Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow, have just sent their first batch of beer brewed at their Wild Card Brewery to an international festival in France, following a recent expansion of the business at the Ravenshall Industrial Estate in Walthamstow.

They were approached by a French magazine to take part in the Paris Craft Beer Festival in April.

The range, the Jack of Clubs, King of Hearts and the Ace of Spades, is named after the playing card the pair would assign to a beer as they experimented with flavours.

Andrew said: “We met working for Boots.

"William was in the back room and I was at the front but we all loved drinking beer." 

Wild Card Brewery was established in 2012, taking over an unused industrial unit it is said Waltham Forest council “couldn’t give away”.

God’s Own Junkyard, the permanent exhibition of neon sculptures made by the late artist Chris Bracey, moved on to the estate at the same time, joining established industrial businesses like Shiv’s Motor garage.

Andrew added: “People still come in to us looking for a fabric manufacturer sometimes, but they find something different.

“It is such a nice mixture of businesses here in the estate and we all attract customers to each other.

“We appealed over Twitter when we needed to expand.

"We borrowed money from people locally to get going. Now they can see how we spend our money and they get to enjoy our beer.”

The Wild Card Brewery has recently doubled its capacity with the addition of new fermenters but is struggling to meet demand.

Jaega Wise, 26, who has a background in chemical engineering, has recently been brought in to make the operation more “scientific”.

Jaega recently created a special Unite Red Ale for International Womans Day.

She said: “It smells and it’s hot brewing in there especially when people are buying at the bar, but we make it work.”

Andrew said: “There’s a great local buzz around Walthamstow.

"People are gradually working out they don’t have to go to Hackney or central London to have a good time.

“I am looking forward to when the Victoria line closes in the summer and we have our own Walthamstow Island.”

The Wild Card Brewery will be hosting its first four-day beer festival this Easter Weekend.

This Is Local London:

Andrew Rickby, William Harris and Jaega Wise in the Wild Card Brewery.