A Reading Buses driver and cider company owner has recently released a limited-edition beverage to celebrate 41 years of driving for Reading Transport.

Tim Wale, Owner of Tutts Clump Proper Cider, has launched a special Route 17 cider to celebrate this milestone.

He has dedicated the alcoholic drink to Reading Transport’s flagship service that is the number 17 bus.

Route 17 is referred to by locals as the main line, and dates back as early as 1901. It is the company’s most frequent and busiest service with a bus arriving every 10 minutes.

Mr Wale, who has been driving buses since 1983, can still be seen most weekends crossing the town in a purple double-decker bus on his favourite six-mile route.

In 2006 Mr Wale started making Cider as a hobby which grew exponentially, so in 2008 formed Tutts Clump Cider Ltd which is situated just north of Reading.

The business saw great success for over ten years, allowing Mr Wale to work on Tutts Clump full-time. He subsequently employed his two youngest daughters to work with him.

However, after the first lockdown, Tutts Clump Cider Ltd took a massive hit.

Mr Wale said: “We were doing well until the country was put in lockdown in 2020 where our income virtually stopped overnight.

“No pubs, restaurants, shops, farm shops, garden centres, festivals, steam rallies – nothing.”

Mr Wale now works a 95-hour week. Monday to Friday he focuses on the cider business and at the weekends works as a bus driver.

The family currently hasn’t been able to buy groceries for three weeks and is also behind on rent. Mr Wale described them as hand to mouth at the moment.

“The only option I had to keep the business going was to withdraw my entire private pension which I had paid into for 43 years, plus my inheritance from the sale of my late parent's house.”

Sales have since improved over the last year but are still falling short of what they were before covid.

“We are now struggling with cash flow as so many customers are not paying on time, and we still have four lease-purchase agreements to pay off this year which were extended, plus a bank loan.”

“We just have to keep battling through. We know we’re not alone now at least, we’ve had such an amazing response so far.”

Mr Wale said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who continues to support us. I’m just pushed up against a wall at this point in time. We have loans to pay back and our lenders are getting aggressive.”

“I have no more personal funds to prop the business up and this is why I need your help. So, if you want to see a successful award-winning Cider business not be another statistic and see three people out of work - please support us.”

To donate to Mr Wale’s cause, please click here.