Brewery to bring Darwen pub back to life (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Brewery to bring Darwen pub back to life

11:53am Thursday 17th February 2011 in Tockholes By Catherine Pye, Health reporter

A BREWERY is moving lock, stock and barrel to open in an empty pub in Tockholes.

The Three B’s Brewery, which was started in 1999 by former British Rail engineer Robert Bell, will breathe new life into the Black Bull in Brokenstone Road, which has been shut for 18 months.

Mr Bell, 51, has been given permission to build a 3.5metre-high single-storey extension to the rear of the building to house the microbrewery.

He aims to reopen the pub to customers within six weeks.

The move bucks a recent trend of pubs closing due to a lack of trade and an increase in beer prices.

Mr Bell said: “Other people in the pub industry have been quiet recently.

“But we’ve had a busy start to the year because we’ve had a deal to supply Wetherspoons nationally with 54 firkins, which hold 72 pints each.

“We’ve been looking to get a pub for two or three years now, and eventually something is coming together.

“We were looking at pubs in the Blackburn area, but this is an ideal location for us, and looks out over the whole of Blackburn as well.”

The 30-barrel brewery, which employs five people, is expected to move from its current base in Stockclough Lane, Feniscowles, Blackburn, and start running in Tockholes in three months.

The pub will be given a facelift and will open in six weeks.

Pub food and guest ales will be available and there will be parking for 30 cars.

Beers brewed by Three B’s include Autumn Gold, Bee Blonde, Beethrifty, Stoker’s Slake and Tacklers Tipple.

Comments are closed on this article.