However, incoming managing director Chris France has confirmed that there is no continuity supply agreement to put Jennings’ beers such as Cumberland Ale, Cocker Hoop and Sneck Lifter back on the bar in the former Jennings pub estate.
With those pubs now mostly owned by Marston’s and supplied by Carlberg Britvic, any guest ale deal “will need to be negotiated, just like with any other customer,” says France.
He added the Jennings brand “is loved both by locals and tourists, and they want to enjoy Cumberland ales when they come to the Lake District. People remember the brand not from three years ago when the brewery closed, but from 20 years or more ago”.
France continued: “That level of excitement will bring the independent free trade to us, and we’d love to work with them. We want to get into the independent, exciting venues where tourists go.”
On the prospects of supplying former Jennings pubs, France added: “We just don’t know. We need to go and talk to all the pubs that are out there.”
New brewing kit
After three years, “there’s a lot to do on the site to get us up and brewing again.” New brewing kit is planned and beer will be supplied in both cask and bottled format.
“The plan is to get things up and running by this summer. We’ll be bringing back some of the brands that people love, but exactly which ones, we don’t know – there’s a huge catalogue of recipes,” said France.
Kurt Canfield, who with wife Rebecca Canfield co-owns the new business, said: “We both grew up with Jennings – in fact my granddad used to drink it,” but he insisted the deal is about far more than sentimentality.
“Let’s not forget, at no point has it stopped being brewed. It’s been brewed for 196 years. It’s coming back from the south to its home and back to being brewed with water from the castle well, which is absolutely critical to its quality.”
He added: “The decentralisation approach is right not just for the heritage of the beer, but it’s for its future. Do we want to scale it up, to grow it? Absolutely. We’re not going to be shy with the brand. Being independently owned, and British, is a USP.”
Significant expansion planned
The new owners also see potential to make the Castle Brewery site in Cockermouth into a tourist destination.
Canfield continued: “We’ll bring the existing taphouse on the site up to modern standards, and expand it significantly.”
The Grade II-listed Maltings building, a dominant landmark in the town, will be restored. “Given that it’s in the heart of the Lake District, it makes sense to tap into tourism and make it a heritage site.”
Canfield added: “Commercialisation of the site is essential. Any business has to make a profit. There are a lot of opportunities, and we can start to sweat the assets but always sensitive to the fact that it’s a conservation site.”
Jennings owned an estate of more than 150 tenanted and managed pubs across the Lake District at the turn of this century, but exited its managed business before selling the brewery and remaining pubs to Marston’s in 2005.
