STUDENTS in York are playing a part in the growth of the city's newest brewing business following an allocation of funding from the Yorkshire Innovation Fund.

Throughout the autumn term business and marketing students at York St John University have been working with the founder of Ainsty Ales Andy Herrington.

The partnership was set up through funding from the Yorkshire Innovation Fund which has enabled Ainsty Ales to set dissertation questions and projects for the students, in return for their expertise to help create a more robust business plan and conduct viable research.

Since work got underway with York St John in the summer, Mr Herrington has officially launched his beers this autumn, using available brewery space at Malton's Brass Castle Brewery in a method known as Cuckoo-Brewing.

Following business planning sessions with the students, the new year will see Ainsty Ales progress to contract brewing with plan to book brewing facilities at Hambleton near Thirsk, before ultimately moving to its own brewery within 12 to 18 months.

Mr Herrington said: "I’ve met with the head of the Business School Alan Johnson and Business lecturer David Kelsey regularly since the start of summer and good progress has been made.

"This initial stage will run until the end of the year and it has already been proposed that the collaboration between Ainsty Ales and York St John will continue in the coming years as we progresses from Cuckoo-Brewing to our own brewery.

"The projects have been specifically targeted towards getting Ainsty Ales into its own brewery and everything has been tailored around the business, which been fantastic for me.

"At the same time the partnership gives students the chance to work with a growing SME in York, and their input can be adapted as grow as a business, so they can start offering advise as we look a new areas such as export in the future."

The Yorkshire Innovation Fund grant was open to Yorkshire-based independent businesses employing less than 250 people, with turnover of less than £35 million.

Ainsty Ales has joined a growing number of mico-breweries in the region. Since 2009, more than 15 new breweries have opened in York, North Yorkshire or East Yorkshire, including Brass Castle and Bad Seed in Malton, North Riding in Scarborough, the Hop Studio in Elvington, Half Moon in Ellerton, Cropton Brewery which has reincarnated as Great Yorkshire, Treboom, Four Thorns, Yorkshire Heart and Rudgate.