Business community toasts brewery opening
BRADFORD BREWERY and the Brewfactory pub has thrown open its doors unveiling the first beer brewed in the city centre for more than 50 years.
The business community and investors packed out the bar for a preview night, with the venue opening to the public the following afternoon.
The Lord Mayor of Bradford Mike Gibbons and Lady Mayoress Elizabeth Sharp pulled the first pint of The Origin a 4.2% dry-hopped Pale Ale.
This is now being replaced on the pumps by the second Bradford Brewery beer, a 4.5% American brown ale called Dirty Paw.
The development is one of the high-profile venues opening as part of the Bradford City Centre Growth Zone scheme – Bradford Council’s £35m initiative to attract businesses back into the city centre.
Creating 11 new jobs, the venue, off Westgate, is at the heart of the increasingly vibrant leisure scene being dubbed Bradford’s Independent Quarter.
It sees the restoration of a historic factory building which was once the headquarters of Shaw Moisture Meters.
Councillor Gibbons said: “This is a great day for Bradford, to see beer being brewed here in the city centre for the first time in more than 50 years. It’s superb – Bradford is moving forward and on the up and it’s wonderful to have our own brewery once again.
“It’s going to be enjoyed by a lot of people – and having now sampled the beer I can highly recommend it! It’s also good to see an old disused building being brought alive. The atmosphere is exciting and vibrant and, with all the new development being planned, the brewery will fit very well into the new commercial scene.”
Bradford Brewery’s managing director, Matthew Halliday, said: “I’d had a dream of opening a brewery for some time which just grew out of a casual conversation in a bar. Then the Bradford City Centre Growth Zone scheme gave us the vision to bring brewing back to the heart of the city.
“The Sparrow Bier Café landed three years ago and some people thought they were crazy opening in Bradford – but their foresight and subsequent success had been a catalyst for the whole Independent Quarter scene. I hope and believe that this is the start of big changes, not just for Bradford Brewery but for Bradford in general.”
