Community and collaboration are at the core of Northern Monk Brew Company. It collaborates with national and international breweries, businesses and charities to help strengthen the North for positive change, as well as to diversify its own offering.

One of the ways it does this is through its patrons' projects, an initiative that creates brews that celebrate collaboration, creativity and community between artists, athletes and creatives across the North.

Founder, Russell Bisset, was inspired by the monastic brewing tradition in northern England and set up Northern Monk in 2013. In 2014, it found and renovated a listed mill building just outside the centre of Leeds to house a brewery, tap room and events space, securing nationwide distribution within months of launch. It grew with the help of crowdfunding, hitting its initial £500,000 target and eventually raising £1.5 million in less than a fortnight in 2018.

Northern Monk now has a workforce of 97 and sites in Leeds and Manchester. It says it listens to staff and takes on their feedback. Managers have regular one-to-one meetings with their teams. Each site has a health and safety suggestion box. The company has been carrying out risk assessments and has also started looking at stress management.

Staff are given two paid volunteering days a year, which have included working at the Pigs in the Wood animal sanctuary in Huddersfield, the Wonkey Donkey Sanctuary, in Wakefield, and the Young Women's Trust, which works to achieve economic justice for women.