WEST PINTS

PINTS WEST
Arbor Ales
expanding into
new premises
At the time of my latest visit to Arbor Ales (13th August) the whole
brewery was in a state of flux. When I arrived at the double
gates of the secure, spacious “new” premises at 181 Easton
Road, Bristol, I met electrical engineer and home-brewer Steph who was
working on the electricity supply sub-station just inside the gates. He told
me that owner Jon and Meg had gone away for the weekend.
The area covered by the premises, between boundary walls, is of
the order of half an acre or about one-fifth of a hectare. There are three
buildings on the site – if you look on Google Maps you will see a roughly
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triangular area opposite Iceland on which eight buses are parked – which
was, until fairly recently, the maintenance depot for Bristol Community
Transport and was left in a semi-derelict state. Arbor Ales have secured the
freehold of this land parcel, ample to accommodate future expansion for the
foreseeable future.
The large building to the north of the site occupies 234 square metres
and had an inspection pit, for vehicle maintenance, running its entire length.
One of the first jobs was to fill this in – with 80 tons of scalpings. Next a
raised operating (wet) floor, covering most of the area, was built to house
the brewing kit. All the hardware from the old units has
been installed; remaining jobs include some plumbing
and wiring before brewing was due to recommence
the following Monday to fulfil an order from Marks &
Spencer for bottled ales.
The long narrow building on the eastern side, floor
area 375 square metres, will contain the cold stores, a bar
(hospitality site) and toilets. On the upper floor of this
building is the completed general office offering Meg a
splendid overview of the whole premises – reminiscent
of the old factory foreman’s office of days gone by.
Adjacent is a separate small shed to house the caskwashing
equipment.
Adjoining the main brewery are several side rooms
comprising staff toilet, a small office for Jon, store for
malt and hops and a kitchen forming the staff canteen.
In this large room I saw Ollie who was cleaning the
composition flooring with white spirit. Ollie – a plasterer
by trade – has done all plastering on the premises.
While I was talking to Paul Comer, Jon’s brother, a
beer dray turned up and he fired up the forklift to load
pallets of bottled ales for Beer Paradise of York and casks
for a major wholesaler.
Everyone is expecting great things from the new
set-up, not least Bristol CAMRA who anticipate enjoying
some memorable brewery visits!
Henry Davies