TWO beer loving friends have found a novel use for the back room of a car garage – turn it into a microbrewery.

Mechanic Glen Speak and his pal John Chadwick, who works for BT, created the brewery at Glen’s Bluestone Land Rover Garage in Whitworth 12 months ago after going on a brewing course together.

The pair cleaned a back room of the garage on Daniel Street Industrial Estate, sealed it off, and built their brewery from scratch.

Using their mechanical engineering know-how, the pair managed to spend very little on materials, and then got themselves a licence to brew.

Business soon took off, with the friends now supplying locally to The Sportsman pub in Whitworth and a distributor in Manchester which sells their Bluestone craft ales across the country.

The pair have found there is such a thirst for their traditionally made and handcrafted stouts, ales, and barley wines and are now having to look for larger premises to keep up with demand.

Dad-of-five, Glen, 52, said: “It started as a hobby, and still is really.

“We don’t make much money from it, but we look forward to it in the week, it’s never a chore. I’d rather be brewing than fixing Land Rovers at the moment.

“My four-year-old, Edward, likes to think he’s helping too.

“He goes along to the market at the methodist chapel in Hall Street with his mum, Shelly, and helps sell the beer.”

Glen and John, a dad-of-two, spend six hours on a Saturday producing four casks of beer, each holding 72 pints. The friends then go back to the works on Sunday and use the traditional ‘double dip’ technique rarely used by modern brewers, allowing the beer to ferment twice by clearing it of unwanted yeast and particles, while adding flavour.

The next step for the two-man team is to move into new premises and start bottling the beers, which will be being sold by Shelly and Edward at the methodist chapel’s market on Saturday, August 9.