The Weald Smokery, The Mount, Flimwell, Wadhurst, East Sussex, TN5 7QL

Christie & Co are delighted to bring to market a unique opportunity to acquire a multiple award-winning freehold Smokery and retail business.
The Weald Smokery is a renowned, family run artisan smokery which was established over 30 years ago. The smokery has built a strong reputation for producing high quality, traditionally smoked products, including smoked fish, meats and cheeses. The site features a charming retail shop, a state-of-the-art production facility, and a café.

The business presents a huge opportunity to expand the retail side of the business while also increasing revenue through wholesale, direct to business transactions and direct to consumer via online sales and development of the gift hamper business.

The Weald Smokery is located in the heart of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, just outside the village of Wadhurst.
The property is easily accessible from major transport links, including the A21, and is within a short drive of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and Hastings.
Wadhurst Railway Station is within a short drive and on the Southeastern Railway line offering frequent services to London in under an hour, making the area accessible for both locals and visitors.
According to the latest census data there are over 575,968 people living within a 25 kilometer radius of the smokehouse and the data highlights favourable local demographics with above UK average home ownership and owner occupied housing.

The site features a recently modernised and extended retail shop and café offering seasonal, locally sourced dishes.

Beyond the retail unit are a range of buildings comprising offices, food production and packaging areas, the smokery and various store rooms and refrigeration units.
The Weald Smokery site is a blend of traditional craftsmanship and modern facilities, offering a unique and inviting environment for both production and retail.

The Shop
The recently expanded shop is full of character and offers a wide variety of smoked products, including smoked fish, smoked meats, charcuterie, smoked cheeses, alcohol, condiments and sauces as well as gifts and souvenirs.
The Smokery
The smokery is equipped with smoking kilns and uses traditional smoking methods to ensure high-quality and consistent products.
The production area is designed to meet food safety standards, with separate zones for preparation, smoking, packaging, and storage.
The Café
The café offers a range of locally sourced produce including savoury and sweet ranges as well as freshly ground coffee, speciality teas cold drinks and alcohol.

Weald Smokery has been run by a husband and wife team since 1990 who?s vision to produce delicious smoked products with passion, pride and care has seen them turn it into a multi-award winning business.

Award Winning
Using traditional and authentic smoking methods to create their products they have become known as one of the best artisan food producers operating in the UK today, The business has consistently won at least one gold Great Taste Award across the range of products every year since the awards started.

Traditional & Authentic
Weald Smokery continues to produce their smoked products using traditional techniques, ensuring their products retain their truly authentic taste and texture. At the same time, their preparation areas are all state of the art, guaranteeing products maintain their quality, from kiln to customer.

From Kiln to Customer
The business has deliberately remained small to maintain high standards and remain close to their suppliers enabling them to know where every single fish, cut of meat and round of cheese comes from. They also have a loyal customer base who they know by name as well as supplying to wholesalers, restaurants, hotels, caterers, pubs and other retail outlets including farm shops.

The Smoking Process

Hot smoking
Using a kiln built by local craftsmen to the owner's specification the hot smoking process is handled by an expert chief smoker who has many years of experience.

The fire brings the meat or fish up to a cooking temperature which then produces the smoke. The traditional method of exposing the product to oak throughout the process creates a more authentic and balanced taste.

Cold smoking
Traditional brick kilns are used for the cold-smoking process.  The purpose here is not to cook the fish or meat, but to gently remove moisture. The original intention being to preserve fresh food and add flavour.
Locally sourced oak shavings are burnt and smoke rises up through the kiln by natural convection, rather than being pumped in, (so it?s gentler on tender products like trout and salmon). The authentic kilns recirculate a constant stream of fresh smoke over the food, creating a taste that?s cleaner and fresher.

The Weald Smokery represents a unique opportunity to acquire a well-established, profitable business with significant growth potential.
The Weald Smokery has built a strong reputation for producing high-quality, traditionally smoked products. The business has huge scope to grow the income streams from the food production and wholesale business where there is considerable opportunity to supply a broader range of shops and restaurants.
The retail side of the business consists of the shop and café but also the gifts and hampers and online business, as with the wholesale side there is a great opportunity to grow the direct to customer side of the business through greater utilisation of the growing database of customers.
The business is being offered on a freehold basis.

The Weald Smokery is a fully operational business with an experienced team in place, offering a seamless transition for new owners.

2024
Turnover: £1,353,061
Gross Profit: £620,968
Adjusted Net Profit: £172,938

2023
Turnover: £1,313,581
Gross Profit: £616,446
Adjusted Net Profit: £182,783

Monday ? Wednesday
8.30am ? 5.00pm (last orders for hot drinks 4.30pm)
Thursday ? Saturday
8.30am ? 5.30pm (last orders for hot drinks 5.00pm)
Sunday / Bank Holidays
Closed

The rateable value is presently £30,750. The amount payable for the year ending 1st April 2026 will be £9206.55