REAL ALE fans will have to wait a bit longer for a pint from a micro-brewery at a legendary valley pub.
Hotly anticipated plans for a two-storey in-house brewery at the Nook, in Holmfirth, have hit a number of setbacks over the last two-years, but after a number of tweaks to the design, work is set to begin.
But beer lovers hoping for a new selection of fine brews for this year’s Holmfirth Beer Festival will be disappointed to hear the project is too far behind to be ready for the annual August event.
Landlady, Sheila Sutton, said after a good start, the project had been stalled by numerous planning issues.
She said: “Because it’s next to the river we’ve had to work closely with the Environment Agency – but we’ve not been their priority because of all the flooding problems in the region. So after a good start we had to wait. We’ve got the green light now, but we’re waiting for some specialist drawings.”
Mrs Sutton said she hoped the brewery would open in about six-months time. “We’ll start by supplying ourselves, then if things go well we’ll supply other pubs and get our beers better known and grow from there,” she added.
Plans for the beers are still in their early stages but Mrs Sutton revealed that local people would be employed and a range of ales with locally influenced names would be brewed.
“We’ve been going round a lot of micro-breweries in the community,” she said. “They’ve been very friendly and have happily said they are going to let us have a go. Then we’ll be able to offer our customers better value in these days of spiralling prices by the Government.”
Huddersfield CAMRA branch spokesman, Bob Tomlinson, welcomed the ambitious four barrel brew-house project.
He said: “With the closure of so many pubs these days and the fact that people are getting back into real ale and the choices available in free houses, I’m sure it will be a success. With the rising cost of beers from the major companies it’s a good route to go down. If it’s producing choice I’m sure it will be appreciated by locals.
“The fact that they’re not shipping in beer from all around the country will also help to cut down their carbon footprint,” he added.
