Small Businesses Supporting Small Businesses: A Shout-Out to BrewCo UK
We’d been live for less than three weeks when we got our first real sign that the message behind ManThings was landing exactly where we’d hoped it would.
Recently, we heard from Oliver, who runs BrewCo UK, an independent home brewing business based in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.
He'd been following ManThings on Facebook, liked what we were trying to build and offered to feature us on the BrewCo website.
A little while later, he did exactly that.
So we thought it was only fair to introduce BrewCo to you lot too.
TL;DR
Oliver from BrewCo got in touch after discovering ManThings through Facebook and offered to write about us on his website.
He went on to publish a full article explaining both ManThings and the bigger idea behind Achivo CIC — using a real working ecommerce business to help people gain practical skills and experience.
We genuinely appreciated the support.
BrewCo itself is an independent home brewing shop in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, selling beer, cider and wine-making equipment, ingredients and kits both locally and online across the UK.
And, naturally, Pete has already started talking about home brewing content.
This may have consequences.
A Message From Oliver
Oliver's original message was pretty straightforward.
He'd been keeping an eye on ManThings through Facebook, thought there was a decent crossover between our audiences and offered to write something about us for BrewCo's website.
There wasn't any complicated marketing arrangement behind it.
He'd found the business, liked the idea and thought his audience might be interested.
For a shop that only properly launched on 2 September 2026, getting noticed like that was a nice little milestone for us.
What BrewCo Wrote About ManThings
Oliver went on to publish an article called ManThings: Practical Kit With a Purpose Behind It.
What we particularly appreciated was that he didn't just describe ManThings as another online shop .
The article also talks about Achivo CIC and the reason ManThings exists in the first place.
Behind the products is a working environment where our Achievers can gain practical experience with things like ecommerce, product listings, content creation, stock handling, warehousing and fulfilling real customer orders.
That's always been the important bit for us.
So seeing someone outside the project understand that — and explain it to their own audience — was great to see.
Read BrewCo's article about ManThings
So, What Is BrewCo UK?
BrewCo UK is an independent home brewing shop based in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.
They sell brewing supplies through both their physical shop and their website, catering for complete beginners as well as people who already know considerably more about fermentation than is probably healthy.
Their range covers beer, cider and wine making, including brewing kits, hops, malt, yeast, fermenting equipment, bottling gear, cleaning products and starter kits.
More importantly, they're home brewers themselves.
So if you're staring at a fermenting bucket thinking “I'm fairly sure it's not supposed to look like that”, you're dealing with people who've actually used the kit they're selling.
A Proper West Yorkshire Business
BrewCo's shop is in Sowerby Bridge, serving customers around Halifax, Huddersfield, Hebden Bridge, Elland, Brighouse and the wider West Yorkshire area.
They also deliver brewing supplies throughout the UK through their online shop.
There's obviously a fair bit of crossover between someone who enjoys practical projects, tools and tinkering...
...and someone who looks at a perfectly good pint and thinks:
“I reckon I could make that.”
Which probably explains why Oliver found ManThings in the first place.
And Yes, Pete Has Already Had Ideas
There was one slightly dangerous sentence in Pete's reply to Oliver.
He mentioned that he'd dabbled in home brewing before and would like to explore it for future ManThings content.
So that's probably happening at some point.
Whether the eventual video is called:
“How to Brew Your Own Beer”
or
“We Have Made a Terrible Mistake”
remains to be seen.
At least we now know who to email.
Go and Have a Look at BrewCo
We appreciated Oliver taking the time to feature ManThings and, particularly, for explaining what we're trying to achieve through Achivo rather than simply linking to the shop.
So if home brewing sounds like your sort of thing, have a look at what BrewCo are doing.
🍺 Visit BrewCo UK
📰 Read BrewCo's ManThings article
Cheers for the mention, Oliver.
And if Pete's first batch goes wrong, expect questions.
Follow ManThings
We're building ManThings as we go — products, testing, warehouse jobs, videos, training and the occasional idea that seemed better before we actually tried it.
Follow along here:
Final Thoughts
One of the nice things about building ManThings has been discovering other independent businesses doing their own thing.
BrewCo happens to be just down the road in West Yorkshire, their audience overlaps nicely with ours, and Oliver was kind enough to give a brand-new business a bit of exposure.
So now you know about them too.
And we've possibly acquired a new excuse to make beer.
Everybody wins.
