Moorhouse's: from micro brewer to major employer

Where the Lancashire mills lie derelict, brewing can promote regeneration - if Government gives it a chance

David Grant is passionate about brewing and makes this appeal to Government: "Please support our industry — there's nothing else left. Successive governments have destroyed the country's manufacturing base and now they're doing us great harm."

As the managing director of Moorhouse's brewery in Burnley, he can speak with some authority. Burnley was once a mighty Lancashire mill town, but the mills have long gone and the proud buildings are derelict. The scale of the problem can be seen in the fact that Moorhouse's, classified as a microbrewery, is now one of the town's major employers.

And, in spite of the all the problems besetting the brewing industry, Moorhouse's will get considerably bigger, with more jobs for locals. The company has bought an acre of land next to the current brewhouse that will enable a new brewery to come on stream in 2010.

It will take Moorhouse's annual volumes from 12,000 barrels a year to 40,000, moving the firm from the rank of a micro to that of a substantial regional brewer. It's a leap of faith or, as Grant says, "a gamble — but entrepreneurs have to gamble."

It's a gamble based on solid growth and success. Moorhouse's has won a shelf-load of awards: Champion Beer of Britain in 2000, several international brewing awards since then — and, this March, a gold for Premier Bitter in the annual awards organised by the Society of Independent Brewers (Siba).

The awards and the quality of the beers have fuelled Moorhouse's need for a bigger brewery. With new brewing kit and expanded offices and warehousing, the company won't get any change from £3m. It's a massive investment that has been made possible by Bill Parkinson, the company's owner.

He made his fortune from his company, Lifting Gear Hire (LGH). The organisation became an international giant in its field: it was LGH equipment, for example, that brought the stricken Russian submarine Kursk and its crew from the sea bed in 2000.

Bill, when he's at home in the town of Atherton, a few miles from Burnley, enjoys a glass of beer. One evening in 1987 he was supping a pint of Pendle Witches Brew in his local when he learned it would be his last, as the brewery was going out of business. So Bill bought Moorhouse's. The transaction took just a week.

His next good move was to hire David Grant, from Marston's, with a wealth of experience of beer and pubs. Together, they have expanded the beer range, built a small estate of pubs, supply around half their annual production to the freetrade and also sell to the national pubcos via Siba's direct delivery scheme.

David believes strongly in using home-grown ingredients for his beers. "Modern consumers are

concerned about where their beer

is brewed," he says. "They don't want to drink beer brewed millions of miles away."

To this end he uses English Maris Otter barley and Fuggles hops, with pure soft Lake District water.

With such a powerful belief in craft brewing's future, David can hardly credit the way Government is stabbing the industry in the back. Over the road from his office is the Moorhouse's brewery tap, the General Scarlett. About 90% of its customers smoke — and trade has dropped sharply since the ban came in.

Now has come the Darling Kiss of Death, the budget hike in duty that will put around 20p on the price of a pint of beer.

The remaining five pubs in the Moorhouse's estate are suffering less. They are a mix of managed and tenanted outlets in Atherton, Blacko, Bury and Rawtenstall. Bill Parkinson took me to his pride and passion, the Pendle Witch, in Atherton.

When he bought it, the Pendle Witch sold three barrels a week, the toilets were upstairs and it was dominated by pool tables. A £200,000 investment has brought the toilets downstairs, enabled a kitchen to be added, and a conservatory and heated beer garden to be bolted on. Beer sales have grown to 10 barrels a week and it's the town's busiest pub.

"We brew local beer for local people in local pubs," says David.

It's clearly a recipe for the future — if the Government will allow brewing a future.