Rivals find brewing bond

Related tags Kelham island Sheffield Beer Dave wickett

Despite support opposing football teams, Jim Harrison and Dave Wickett were definitely on the same side when they launched a new brewery for...

Despite support opposing football teams, Jim Harrison and Dave Wickett were definitely on the same side when they launched a new brewery for Sheffield, writes Tim Hampson

A friendship forged out of a fierce football rivalry has helped create a new pride in brewing in the Sheffield area.

Jim Harrison, owner of Thornbridge Hall, is an ardent Sheffield Wednesday fan, but his love of real ale took him to the Fat Cat pub owned by lifelong Sheffield United follower Dave Wickett.

Harrison had heard of Wickett's reputation for selling and brewing good beer, as he also owns the adjacent Kelham Island Brewery.

And it has quite a reputation. Within 15 years of establishing Kelham Island, the former lecturer has garnered a sackful of awards for his brews - including the coveted Champion Beer of Britain Award in 2004 for Pale Rider.

The Kelham Island Brewery was purpose-built in 1990 on land adjoining the renowned Fat Cat in Alma Street and success came quickly as drinkers showed a taste for its beers.

Indeed, Kelham Island moved from distant fifth in a field of five to become the city's biggest brewer as, since it opened, consolidation has swept through Sheffield's brewing industry. First to close was the Tennants brewery, followed by Bass' Hope & Anchor and Stones breweries and, finally, the bulldozers moved in on Wards.

Its success saw the brewery move in March 1999 to premises with five times the capacity of its nearby original home, on a bank of the millrace that turns the area into an island as it flows out of and back into the River Don. The original brew-house has now been converted into a visitor centre.

Celebratory brew

As director of Wednesday's supporters club, Harrison was always looking for ways to raise funds, and he saw the success of Wickett's brewing and his ability to produce brews to celebrate events in Sheffield as something he could take advantage of.

Harrrison wanted the blue and whites to have their own beer which Wednesday fans could buy to raise money for the club.

So Hirsty's No 9 - named after David Hirst, one of the team's greats who, because of injury, never achieved his potential - kicked off the business relationship.

Wickett is a committed United supporter so, to counter the Wednesday beer, he launched Currie's No 10, celebrating the cavalier life of one of his team's finest. A business relationship was beginning to develop.

Reviving tradition

At the time, Harrison and his wife Emma had just bought Thornbridge Hall, set in 100 acres in the heart of the Peak District National Park.

For Emma, its purchase was the culmination of a teenage dream which began when Sheffield City Council sent her, aged 15, on a trip to Sheffield's twin Soviet city of Donetsk more than a quarter of a century ago. Before her trip, she took a crash course in Russian at the council-owned Thorn-bridge Hall.

She fell in love with the place and her dream of owning it came true when, many years later, having made her fortune as the entrepreneur behind the Sheffield-based Action4employment, she and her husband bought it.

The couple have transformed the house into something truly impressive while retaining the best of its original features.

The superb music room, which has large mirrors and large windows on two walls, is modelled on the Hall of Mirrors in the Chateau de Versailles, in France. And the carriage house has been transformed into a room of sweeping light and glass that can be hired for private functions and conferences. Below, a former air-raid shelter has been transformed into a stunning bar with Jim as landlord.

'The next step had to be to serve my own beer in my own bar, reviving the once common tradition of country-house brewing,' says Harrison.

So who better to turn to than his football rival and friend Wickett for advice and support?

Just over a year ago, work began on converting a derelict building into a brewery which opened last October. It is a relationship that has cultured great success.

Thornbridge and Kelham Island are currently developing new recipes from old ideas to create a range of bottled speciality beers.

Local plants, fruits and herbs have been used, such as elderflower and nettle beers.

There are others to come, but Harrison is keeping them secret for now.

And, like Kelham Island, the Thornbridge beers are being quickly recognised for their excellence and one of them has already won success at a Camra festival.

Harrison said: 'Through the partnership, we hope to combine the experience and expertise of Dave Wickett and his team with the Thornbridge name, as we already have chutneys, mustards and coffees in many food stores and delis.'

But the pair do not intend to stand still and firmly believe that small, proud producers of beer, like themselves, will prosper if they work together with other like-minded brewers.

'We hope our real ale brewery may become a tourist attraction as there are rumours about two other microbreweries in the area, which would be great as we could create a tour and festival.

'If it is true, we would love to hear from them,' says Harrison.

The Fat Cat

The Fat Cat is a back-street community boozer which shows, with style and commitment to service, that small is beautiful. A former MA Cask Ale Pub of the Year in 2004, it was built in the 1850s and was originally named the Alma, first being a public house then becoming a commercial hotel. It was bought by the William Stones brewery (later to be taken over by the Bass Brewing Company) in 1912.

And so it stayed, its fortunes shadowing the economic up and downs of Sheffield until recession's iron grip knocked the steel out of this proud Yorkshire town and Alma faced the auctioneer's hammer in 1981.

But Sheffield Polytechnic lecturer Dave Wickett and his business partner solicitor Bruce Bentley believed the city needed a pub which provided an alternative to pubs owned by the big brewers which dominated the city.

A range of beers new to the area was introduced, with prominence given to those from small independent brewers. A guest beer policy helped to keep a wide range of choice. The Fat Cat became the first pub in Sheffield to sell the beers of Marston's, Timothy Taylor and Theakston.

It was a formula that frothed success from its first day of re-opening, when a queue of eager drinkers patiently waited outside.

Traditional scrumpy and unusual bottled beers were also on sale. To create an atmosphere for conversation, music and electronic machines were excluded. A no-smoking room was introduced, the first in the area. Open fires were reintroduced for winter. Home cooking was considered essential for lunchtime with a good vegetarian choice.

'In its first year of business the Fat Cat was voted number one pub of the year by the Sheffield branch of Camra,' says Wickett. 'In 1992 it won the award for the second time.'

When Kelham Island Brewery was built at the back of the pub, Wickett bought out his partner, becoming the sole owner.

The Fat Cat introduced a concept of a constantly changing range of guest beers. It offers 10 traditional draught real ales which will always include at least four from Kelham Island as well as the famous Timothy Taylor's Landlord. The other pumps are devoted to guest beers from across the country, especially from microbreweries. The number of different beers sold to date is 4,504.

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