Pubco Beerhouses celebrates 25 years with events series

20-May-2019 - Last updated on 20-May-2019 at 14:43 GMT

Community hubs: Beerhouses is raising money with walking challenges, unique drinks and a short story

Northern pub group Beerhouses is celebrating a quarter of a century in business with a series of charity events.

The pubco opened its first site, the West Riding Refreshment Rooms in West Yorkshire, after renovating the disused waiting rooms at Dewsbury rail station.

Now, it is celebrating its six-site strong business by fundraising for local charities: Kirkwood Hospice, Candlelighters and Ben’s Music Foundation.

Beerhouses operations manager Barry Shaw said the business wanted to give something back to the community by pledging to raise £10,000 in 2019.

He said: “We are delighted to be celebrating this landmark year. We employ almost 90 people across the different pubs and most of them live locally so we are a real part of our communities.

“We also have a great relationship with lots of local suppliers, who we have worked closely with for many years. So we think that it should be the same for the charities we support too.”

Part of the community

Fundraising efforts kicked off with an anniversary celebration with free food, drinks discounts and Black Sheep beer sold at its 1994 price.

Local drink producers have also got involved in the events, with Elland Brewery brewing a limited edition beer, Line Four, for the occasion – with 10p from each pint sold donated to charity.

Craft gin maker Jacqsons also created a unique gin variant to be sold at Beerhouses’ sites, with 25p going to charity.

The team walked the 28-mile long Transpennine Real Ale Trail, stopping at its sites along way, earlier this month. They also plan to take on the Three Peaks Challenge and cycle from Liverpool to Dewsbury along the Leeds Liverpool canal.

One member of the team, Christine Wood, wrote and published a short story set at the West Riding site which has “already become a best-seller at the bar,” Shaw said.

Supporting local suppliers and experimenting with different trends were crucial to business, Shaw added.

He said: “As well as real ales and craft beers, we now sell lots of different gins, which we try to source locally. We like to support local independent and artisan producers wherever we can. There are some amazing local brewers and distillers doing great things.

“You’ve got to try new things and adapt to what people want, while making sure that you continue to focus on maintaining the quality of beer that people expect.

“We’ve got lots of ideas we’re currently working on.”