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From the
http://www.kentonline.co.uk By Ed McConnell, 4 November 2017.
Northfleet brewery Iron Pier set to bring brewing back to Gravesham
after 85 years.
Brewing is returning to Gravesham for the first time in more than 80 years.
Iron Pier Brewery and tap room is hoping to open towards the end of
the month in two units in May Avenue, Northfleet, and will become
the borough’s first beer producer since Russell’s Brewery was turned
into a bottling plant after being bought by Truman’s in 1932.
The West Street plant was then transformed into flats in the 80s,
bringing to an end the borough’s ties to the beer industry. At one
point there were four breweries in the district, with Russell’s
competing with Wellington, Wood & Son and Northfleet.
James Hayward, John Warden and Charlie Venner who are gearing up to
open Iron Pier Brewery in Norhtfleet.
Iron Pier is the brainchild of Charlie Venner and John Warden – from
Gravesend’s first micropub the "Compass Alehouse," in Manor Road – and
James Hayward, formerly of Swanscombe’s Caveman Brewery.
Mr Venner, 40, said: “We wanted to bring brewing back to Gravesham.
We love the area and there’s really strong historical links with the
beer industry which need to be preserved.”
The site – which takes its name from Town Pier, the world’s oldest
cast iron jetty – will include a laboratory to ensure quality and
consistency and there will be taste sessions for suppliers.
There will also be a cold room and refrigerated delivery trucks to
maintain the optimum 12C temperatures needed to guarantee the
perfect pint.
Mr Venner, of The Avenue, Greenhithe, said: “At first we want to
produce an English pale and a bitter to see how the kit performs and
we then hope to produce four varieties, which will become our core
range, before eventually building up to six.
“We have the kit to be comfortably producing 180 barrels (12,670
pints) a week and will start off with just three of us. It’s a big
operation but the world is our oyster.”
Mr Venner said the tap room will be a great venue for a casual pint
and would welcome those with a passion for brewing to take a look
around. |
