Brewer toasts investment go ahead
LANCASHIRE brewer Moorhouse’s is pressing ahead with its £3.5m expansion plan, despite the slump hitting the pub trade.
The Burnley company which has its roots in the 19th Century, has won planning approval from the local council and will begin work next month on the site.
The new facility will triple current brewing capacity for the company, already one of the North West’s biggest cask ale brewers, to 900 barrels a week.
It will also include a training school and visitor centre and will help the brewer, which last year had a turnover of £3m, create more than 20 jobs.
The first phase of the scheme, worth £1.8m, comprising a new brew-house and warehousing, is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2009. The second stage will see new offices, visitor centre and training school built on the site of the present Moorhouse Street brewery.
David Grant, managing director, said: “Following years of planning, the directors have taken this bold decision to go ahead despite the recession. In recent years we have consistently broken all sales records year-on-year. This ambitious investment is a very strong pledge of confidence in that success.
“While brewing and pubs are taking a severe beating from high taxes, the smoking ban and the recession, all industry evidence points to a very positive future for well crafted cask-conditioned ale. Good pubs with a strong cask offer will survive. With a new major regional brewery, in 2010 our celebrated brands will be even better placed to play a big part in that future.”
Moorhouse’s supplies several hundred free houses and pub companies in the North West and Yorkshire while the beers are also distributed nationally via leading wholesalers and major pub chains.
The brewery was built in 1870 by William Moorhouse as he expanded the drinks business he founded in 1865. It is now owned by Manchester entrepreneur Bill Parkinson, who founded the LGH Group plc. Mr Parkinson bought the then ailing brewery because ‘he liked the beer’.
Moorhouse’s has won several awards for its beers, which include Pendle Witches and Black Cat.
