A name associated with Northampton for generations is due to return to the town when a new Phipps brewery is opened. The original Phipps brewery in Northampton closed in 1974 and the firm’s famous India Pale Ale (IPA) disappeared from the county’s bars. The company was revived in 2008 however by Northamptonshire-born Alaric Neville, with Phipps beer being made in Rutland. He now plans to restore an empty brewery building once used by Phipps, in Kingswell Street, and bring the company back to the town. He said: “It means a lot to me to bring Phipps back to Northampton. “When we come back here, we’ll put back what was taken away from the town and a name that reflects part of what it is to be Northampton.” The plan will see an empty brewery building in Kingswell Street restored at a cost of more than £1 million. When it is re-opened, the brewery will also feature a bar where people will be able to drink the beer they have seen being made. Mr Neville said: “The brewing of all Phipps products will be moved here. IPA is the big seller. That’s what the company’s famous for, but we’ll also produce lots of other beers. “And this place will be able to produce an awful lot of barrels. It will be the second biggest brewery in the county, after Carlsberg. And the great thing is, people in the bar will be able to see the pint they’re drinking being made. “There’s nowhere else in the area where you can do that.” It is hoped work to re-open the brewery will start in September and it could be completed before Christmas. Mr Neville said: “The building is going back to exactly what it was. “This is where our beer was once brewed and it will be again now.” Other plans will see a Northampton whisky blended at the brewery and production of the Litchborough-based Hoggleys brewery move into Northampton. Plans to re-open the empty brewery in Kingswell Street have been on the drawing board for 18 months. The building will be known as the Phipps Albion Brewery. It is hoped that within five years, it will employ about 20 people, with 12 working in the brewery and eight in the bar. Carlsberg said it may use the brewery as a training site for their staff. It is hoped beer brewed at the site will be sold across the country. A number of investors are already lined up to finance the plan, but anyone else who would like to back the project can find out more information at phipps-nbc.co.uk A well which was once used by the Kings of England will be re-opened when the Phipps brewery returns to Northampton. In the basement of the Kingswell Street building where the new Phipps brewery will be based is The King’s Well. It was once used to provide water for Northampton Castle – which was on the site of the current railway station – but was last used in 1966 to make beer. Alaric Neville, who plans to restore the brewery, said: “The King’s Well was always known as the best well in Northampton. At one time, there were several breweries based around it. “We’ve dug it out recently and had the water sampled and it’s still beautifully pure.So we will brew beer from it here.” The Kingswell Street brewery was built in the 1880s. As well as the well, the building’s basement also contains a large tunnel which was sealed up until the 1980s. When it was unblocked, the building’s owners found up to 10,000 glass lemonade bottles, a collection of Christmas pudding basins and some wooden jam barrels inside. At that time, the tunnel also stretched out to another part of the building, which has since been demolished to make way for the Aspers Casino. It is now planned to blend Northampton whisky in the tunnel, which has a naturally cool atmosphere as it is so deep beneath the ground. The brewery building was last used as a leather tannery. As well as its previous use as a brewery, it has also been a sweet factory in the past.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 07:41:01 +0000
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