Family-owned cider producer Thatchers has installed its first canning line at its North Somerset production hub.
The firm, best known for its flagship Thatchers Gold cider, has invested £8.3m in the production facility – meaning it can now press and package all of its ciders.
It previously used a third-party, off-site canning firm – although it has bottled and kegged its cider at the Thatcher family’s Myrtle Farm base for many years. 
The canning line, which has been designed to fill 30,000 cans an hour, features advanced automation, robotics, inspection and orientation system along with a bespoke packaging machine.
Thatchers managing director Martin Thatcher, the fourth generation of his family to run the business, said: “It has always been our intention to install a canning line and bring all our packaging, including bottling and kegging, under one roof.
“With the growing demand for premium cider in cans, this is an increasingly important part of our business, and so by bringing the facility in-house this is a significant development for us.
“Having our very own technical and engineering teams installing, operating and maintaining the advanced packaging equipment is a very important part of this process.
“We have kegged and bottled our ciders here at Myrtle Farm for many years, and we’re delighted to be completing our packaging capability by bringing canning back home to Myrtle Farm.”
Thatchers’ bottling line has capacity to fill, cap and label 20,000 bottles an hour, as well as a keg line capable of producing 600 pints a minute,
Thatchers Cider has been crafting cider on the family’s Myrtle Farm since 1904, using its knowledge of how apple varieties blend together to create authentic ciders.
