£250k crowdfunding drive for firm eradicating the '˜dirty pint'

A Harrogate company which makes what it says is 'the world's most advanced beer line cleaner' has launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube to raise a minimum £250,000 to help fund its next stage of growth.
Alex Murray founded FullClear last year and believes it can grow to become the beer industrys gold standard line cleaner. (S)Alex Murray founded FullClear last year and believes it can grow to become the beer industrys gold standard line cleaner. (S)
Alex Murray founded FullClear last year and believes it can grow to become the beer industrys gold standard line cleaner. (S)

FullClear works with many of the UK’s leading pubs, hotels and breweries, including Hilton UK, Tokoyo Industries and Masham-based Theakston’s, but plans to build sales on the back of the craft ale boom and aims to become the industry’s gold standard.

Chief executive Alex Murray said: “At FullClear we provide the science behind great beer and with the current cutting-edge techniques in brewing, it’s only right the industry deserves the most scientifically advanced cleaning solution to support that.

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“We are proud to be a Yorkshire company that leads the world as a disruptive, innovative biotech business. Most cleaning chemicals are toxic, corrosive and ineffective, meaning that beer lines have to be cleaned weekly rather than every month.

“Through our extensive, independently verified tests we’ve proven you can safely extend the clean cycle from weekly to monthly. Our research shows £1bn a year is lost in beer waste through traditional line-cleaning methods and we’ve calculated that FullClear has the commercial opportunity to save the UK industry alone some £700m a year in waste.”

The need for a non-toxic and non-corrosive beer line cleaner was highlighted last year after a Leeds bar was fined £25,000 for mistakenly serving a glass of caustic soda instead of beer to a customer, resulting in the man having his oesophagus removed after swallowing the drink.

“We understand that line-cleaning isn’t hugely sexy, but neither is a dirty pint,” said Mr Murray. “This year’s Beer Quality Report found that one in three pints is served via unclean lines. We are committed to helping landlords and other hospitality operators serve better quality beer and run better, more profitable businesses.”

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Mr Murray has run several businesses during a 25-year career, including Ripe Design, which he founded in Leeds in 1998, before opening offices in South Africa, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. During his tenure, the agency was selected to appear in a film produced by tech giant Apple as an example of creativity and design.

Mr Murray added: “We’re hugely excited to launch our crowdfunding campaign; it’s a proven and modern approach to raising the capital we require to fund the next stage of our exciting growth journey.

“We’re excited to engage with a community of fans and investors that share our passion about quality beer and recognise us for the industry-leading business that we are.”