Brewery to open doors in town

A new £1.5 million brewery is set to open its doors in north Shropshire at the end of the summer bringing with it new jobs, it was announced today.

It will be a return to brewing in Market Drayton after an absence of more than 40 years.

Building work is under way on the Joule's Brewery on land behind The Red Lion Pub in Great Hales Street with bosses hoping it will be up and running by the end of August.

Steve Nuttall, managing director of Joule's Brewery Ltd, said: "Hopefully, if it all goes to schedule, we should be turning the key and starting the steam boiler for the first time in August.

"Building work will carry on through to the end of August and run into September. There is still going to be a lot to do once the plant is up and running."

He said further work will include the landscaping around the brewery but he hopes it will all be completed by the end of September.

In addition 12 jobs will be created at the brewery, but that could increase to 15, while the building itself could also reach £2 million, said Mr Nuttall.

He added the brewery will be aiming to recreate the original Joule's Pale Ale which was popular for more than 200 years until it stopped being produced in the early 1970s.

It will also be a return to brewing in Market Drayton following the closure of the Crystal Fountain Brewery in the 1960s.

Mr Nuttall said: "I think that closed in 1963. That was when the last brewery closed in Market Drayton and there has not been one since."

He added they are aiming to recreate the original pale ale using spring water from the Market Drayton aqua flow.

"The idea is we will make the original pale ale exactly as it was," he said.