Local Brew

The food scene is slowly picking up in the shoe making heartlands of East Northamptonshire and in the past couple of years there has been an stealthy increase in availability of some really good quality products and places to eat. On the edge of Wellingborough, in a hidden courtyard of industrial buildings dating from the early 1800s a charming collection of independent shops and cafes is thriving and attracting a growing set of fans. Amongst these new ventures is Wellingborough's first craft brewery, the Hart Family Brewers, producing pure beers from British ingredients and no artificial additives of any kind.

The brewery is small (but growing) and produces at least four (not counting the new Green Hops 2013 limited run) varieties of bottled beers (with some available draught), one of which has been awarded an accolade from the 2012/13 Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards.

It's open every Saturday from 9am-5pm and I will certainly be purchasing a couple of cases of Christmas cheer myself, especially after my cheeky sampling earlier today. As well as their rather delightful brews I was also impressed to see their evident thoughtfulness with respect to reducing the environmental impact by using lighter weight bottles and casks. Have a look if your are passing, it's definitely worth a detour but apologies, they've run out of the Green Hops for the time being, I bought the last bottle!