Jobs hope as £1.2m brewery bid is unveiled

Plans have been unveiled for a £1.2 million purpose-built "flagship brewery" in Market Drayton – creating a dozen jobs for the town.

Businessman Steve Nuttall has submitted a planning application to Shropshire Council for the brewery on land behind The Red Lion pub on Great Hales Street.

Mr Nuttall, who owns pub chain Joules Brewery, said he hoped the purpose-built brewery would enable him to revive the former Joules beer, which was last produced in the 1970s.

He said the brewery would produce the original Joules pale ale, supplying it to his 14 pubs which include The Red Lion and Lord Hill in Market Drayton, The Old Town Hall Vaults in Whitch-urch, The Fox and Hounds in Cheswardine, The White Horse in Overton and The Red Lion in Bomere Heath.

Shropshire Council planners are due to make a decision on the application by August 7. Mr Nuttall hopes to have the brewery running by the end of the year.

He said planning permission for a brewery was gra-nted last year but the design had since been amended.

"We have already started on site because we already have planning consent so we are doing preliminary ground work," he said.

"The building is quite stunning. It's not just about brewing, it's about trying to brew with authenticity and style, because the way we do things is very important to us. It will be a real flagship brewery. We are not brewing on a mass scale, it will be much more artisan than that."

Details of the planning application can be viewed at www.shropshire.gov.uk, and neighbours have until June 19 to respond to consultation on the scheme.