BLACKPOOL'S new brewery is pumping up to come on stream for the first time by September.

Two years after brewery-manager Kean Brown started making Blackpool Bitter over in Yorkshire, he hopes to realise his dream of opening his own brewery this side of the Pennines in the early autumn.

Conversion of the Old Dairy in George Street has taken longer than expected, particularly with planning permission delays, he said, but now everything is coming together.

"We're just getting ready to put in the eight tanks, the four fermenters and four main brewing vessels," he said. "Once we've got the plant in place and up and running we'll be brewing to our capacity, which will be 80 barrels a week (2,780 gallons), hopefully in September.

"It's taken longer than we thought but there's no point in cutting corners with something on this scale - we've got to get it right."

Meanwhile Mr Brown is still brewing Blackpool Bitter at the Barnsley Brewery and expanding his distribution throughout the North West.

"I'm trying to arrange a Blackpool Bitter pump at the Great British Beer Festival in London in August," he said. "We've never been able to do that before as it was still being made in Barnsley, but as we'll be so near to brewing in Blackpool I'm hoping they'll accept us. It'll help introduce the beer to a wider market."

He is confident the beer's quality will not be affected by the change from Yorkshire water to Lancashire's - "All breweries treat their water to make it as near to Burton-on-Trent's as possible as it is viewed as the best for beer-making," he said. "Barnsley do the same and we'll be using the same method as them."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.