Home of Madonna's tipple gets £2m lift

The Timothy Taylor brewery, famously endorsed by pop icon Madonna, celebrated the opening of a £2m extension to its Knowle Spring brewery last week. The building houses four fermenting vessels, which the West Yorkshire-based brewery said has increased production by 30% ­ or up to 330 barrels per week ­ since it went into action last month. And the new automatic barrel-racking system has improvedefficiency by cutting manual handling, the brewery added. Head brewer Peter Elles said: "The latest improvements to the production process give us greater flexibility and enhance quality control, yet at the same time enable us to maintain time-honoured cask ale brewing in open fermenters." A larger stock room, a modern fining area and a purpose-built loading bay have also been fitted. The old loading bay and storage site were demolished to make way for the new building. The extension, which was officially opened last Tuesday, brings total capital expenditure by the company since 1995 to more than £11m ­ with £3.5m invested in the brewery itself. The new building is in response to rising demand; sales of Timothy Taylor beers have grown year-on-year for the past eight years. The company was given a boost earlier in the year when Madonna, appearing on prime-time BBC TV, called Timothy Taylor's Landlord "the best real ale". But managing director Charles Dent said the company would not use the star's endorsement in its marketing drive. "Her remarks gave us a push, and we got lots of media interest," said Dent. "We are very grateful for it but we don't have to say any more. We rely on our beers to speak for themselves." Dent added that the extension was planned two years ago, long before Madonna's comments.