Tom Hick, the man behind the Allendale Brewing Company in Northumberland, has today been announced as the 2008 Young Rural Entrepreneur of the Year by Lycetts, the UK's premier countryside insurance broker, and The Field magazine.

The award, in its second year, was presented to Tom by a panel of judges on Thursday night last week at a ceremony at the Tryon Gallery in central London. Those tasked with the difficult decision of picking a winner included Financial Times columnist and businesswoman Heather McGregor; food entrepreneur Charles Bigham; Jonathan Young, editor of The Field; Angus Keate, chief executive of Lycetts and Charles Seymour, managing director of Lycetts Rural Division.

Heather McGregor, businesswoman and Financial Times columnist, was particularly impressed with his endeavour. "Tom has shown great commitment in getting his business off the ground," she commented. "Successful entrepreneurs must take risks and while re-mortgaging your own home would have been admirable, to persuade your father to re-mortgage his is remarkable. Tom's drive and passion at such a young age makes him a very deserving winner."

Last year, Allendale was voted as the best village in England and the Allendale Brewing Company is certainly doing its bit to help to put this remote Northumberland community firmly back on the map. A keen home brewer during his teenage years, Tom spotted the opportunity to restore the area's proud brewing heritage which was lost following the decline of lead mining in the area in the nineteenth century - when the original brewery closed in 1887, the parish had 17 licensed premises but all had closed.

Tom, 28, was born in Papua New Guinea as the son of VSO parents Jim and Sue whose work included helping to establish sheep farming in the country. The family moved back home to Northumberland in 1986 and after high school, Tom's love of nature led him to study zoology at Bangor University. Soon enough, however, he began to realise that his career path was likely to send him away from his beloved Northumberland and the thought of a 'desk job' did not appeal.

As a consequence Tom decided to study for an MSc from Sunderland University's Brew-Lab while persuading his father to re-mortgage the family home to finance the conversion of a derelict building on the edge of the town. As a fully equipped micro-brewery, Allendale Brewing Company Ltd brewed its first beer on Valentines Day 2006, and is now struggling to keep up with demand from local pubs and retailers.

On winning the award Tom commented: "I was chuffed to be recognised as one of the five finalists for the award, and to win it is incredible. I love doing what I do, whether that is the brewing itself; experimenting with new recipes; serving at a beer fayre or giving tours of the brewery.

"Despite recently increasing production to over 5,000 pints a week, at the moment we sell as soon as we brew. The prize money from the award will allow us to buy more casks and a new fermenter to increase production, and I also plan to contract-out more of the bottling to a local company and dedicate time to professional branding and label design. I get married next year and our honeymoon will be the first real break away from the business, but we have a good team here to handle everything."

Helping the business to grow further at a time when pubs across the country are struggling, Tom has also been at the heart of the refurbishment of the Crown at Catton, the only pub in the village, which had been closed for nine years before opening again in July 2008. The company has also invented a beer dispensing unit for hire at events to provide another outlet for his traditional brew.

Angus Keate, chief executive of Lycetts, added: "This is a great story of a young man with a business vision and a passion for his local area. He exemplifies everything that we are hoping to support with the Young Rural Entrepreneur award, having established a sustainable business which is having a major benefit on both the economic and social quality of life in the rural community.

"He continues to look to the future while keeping an eye on the past, training a young brewing apprentice in the making, and adding to the company's expertise with a recently recruited a drayman who has nearly 30 years of experience working for a large brewer in the area which recently closed."

Jonathan Young, editor of The Field, added: "All of the short-listed finalists are very successful in their own right and put everything on the line for their business. We were all very impressed with Tom's story and foresight to turn what was a hobby as a teenager into a growing sustainable rural business.

"Having already made a massive impact, we are very confident that the prize will be spent wisely to help with the future expansion of the business."