By Julian Whittle

Published at 12:47, Monday, 07 January 2013

ONE OF Cumbria’s new breed of micro breweries is on the move to bigger premises.

Fiona Deal: ‘The main reason we want to move is to provide more storage’

Geltsdale Brewery in Brampton is hoping to leave its historic site at the Old Brewery, Crawhall, from where it has operated for almost seven years.

It has applied to Carlisle City Council for planning permission to use a vacant 3,010sq ft unit at Townfoot Industrial Estate, Brampton.

If consent is forthcoming, the move could take place before the end of February.

Owner Fiona Deal said the decision to leave Crawhall had not been an easy one. She said: “To turn it into a modern brewery, we’d have to knock it down and build it back again.

“That would cost £1m. I haven’t got.

“The main reason we want to move is to provide more storage.

“The ceilings [at Crawhall] are only two metres high. We need five metres.

“At Christmas we ran out of beer because we couldn’t store enough to cope with demand.”

The new premises will allow Geltsdale to increase production to meet the rising demand for its beers.

These include Brampton Bitter, Cold Fell Pale Ale, Tarnmonath Golden Ale, King’s Forest Best Bitter, Bewcastle Brown Ale, Black Dub Mild Ale, Hell Beck Bitter and Geltsdale Lager.

The planning application says the new site would employ four full-time staff, the same as now.

There would also be a shop/bar area for customers to taste and buy the products.

This would open from 9am to 5pm Mondays to Saturdays.

Brampton’s Old Brewery at Crawhall began brewing in 1785 and operated for nearly two centuries before closure.

Mrs Deal, a former archaeologist at Tullie House Museum in Carlisle, established Geltsdale Brewery in a small unit within the Old Brewery building in 2006.

Geltsdale prides itself on using traditional brewing methods, Geltsdale water, northern malt and the finest hops.

JWhittle@cngroup.co.uk

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk