Four small breweries in Ludlow and south Shropshire celebrate grant success (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Four small breweries in Ludlow and south Shropshire celebrate grant success

8:30am Tuesday 11th January 2011 in News By Adrian Kibbler

FOUR small breweries in Ludlow and south Shropshire have good cause to celebrate the New Year after receiving grants of more than £130,000.

The Ludlow Brewing Company, in Ludlow, established by husband and wife partnership Gary and Alison Walters, has received a grant of £62,500 to help establish a 20- barrel brewing plant in a redundant railway shed.

Six Bells Brewery in Bishop’s Castle has received a grant of £53,000 to help treble its brewing capacity, replacing the existing 8-hectolitre brew plant with a new 25-hectolitre model using the latest energy saving technology.

And the Clun Brewery, in Clun, a new micro business started up by business partners Jack Limond and Matthew Williamson has netted a a grant of £8,000.

This will help them install a 2.5 barrel micro brewery at the rear of the White Horse Inn, owned and managed by Mr Limond since 2001.

Lastly, The Three Tuns Brewery in Bishop’s Castle –which has been brewing on site since 1642 – is improving its brewing process by installing a 24-barrel cold liquor storage vessel and new internal cooling radiator, supported by a grant for £9,000.

Each brewery applied successfully for European funding assistance from the Rural Enterprise Grant (REG) programme, a core element of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) which is managed by Advantage West Midlands and administered by Herefordshire Council.

“I made my first brew in 1997 and I’ve enjoyed every minute I’ve been in this business,” said Neville Richards, the Six Bells.

“I’m now running at 95 per cent capacity and the time has come to expand and the grant is helping to make that happen.

“Shropshire is quenching the thirst of thousands of real ale drinkers – and one of our strengths as brewers is the friendly rivalry that exists between us.”

Jack Limond, of the Clun Brewery, said: “The real ale industry is enjoying a boom at the moment. Customers want locally produced food and drink – and that means beers with flavour, made from pure and natural ingredients.

“We’ve been brewing on a small scale for a couple of years. A couple of the brews were consumed within a day and attracted favourable comments from customers – so we decided it was time to start up our own micro brewery.”

Gary Walters, of the Ludlow Brewing Company, said: “The grant has enabled us to take a major step forward in growing the business. We’re producing five beers - Ludlow Gold, The Boiling Well, Ludlow Best, Black Knight and Stairway to Paradise Bill Bainbridge, head brewer and a director of the Three Tuns Brewery, added: “These are the oldest working brewery premises in Britain. The site has been fully refurbished over the past seven years – but we are always looking at ways to improve the brewing process.