Timeline ... the history of Prospect Brewery

A retrospective look at where we are today and how we got there :-

  • 2012(April) Prospect complete deal with Daniel Thwaites to purchase Foresters Arms in Shevington Moor - To be renamed The Silver Tally
  • 2012(March) Patsy and John Attend SIBA National Conference.
  • 2012(March) Liam Taylor Joins Prospect Staff.
  • 2012(Secret) Prospect Brewery looks at Foresters as their first pub.
  • 2012(Jan) Prospect host 4th Project Venus Brew - Venus Gold 3.8%ABV is born.
  • 2011(Nov) Jonaton Christopher joins Prospect Staff.
  • 2011(Nov) Prospect Brewery win SME at Wigan Business Awards... (I had to ask, Small to Medium Enterprise)
  • 2011(Oct) Whaterv wins silver medal at SIBA North beer competition (Beaten only by Hawkshead Windamere Pale Ale, which is overall Champion)
  • 2011(Oct) Prospect Brewery Finalists in Wigan Business Awards
  • 2011(Aug) Patsy and John go to GGBF (just to drink... not to judge)
  • 2011(May) Patsy and John Judge at Wales and West SIBA Beer competition in Ludlow (Its a hard life).
  • 2011(March) Nutty slack does not win at SIBA National.... Boo!
  • 2011(March) Prospect Brewery - Main sponsors of Wigan Beer Festival
  • 2011(Feb) Nutty Slack judged in Nationalal SIBA  competition, Results later this year.
  • 2011(Jan) Patsy judges at National Winter Ales.
  • 2010(Dec) Clementine available again, in cask and bottles.
  • 2010(Oct) Bar Opens at the Brewery.
  • 2010(Oct) Nutty Slack Wins Gold SIBA North reginal beer competition (Again!)
  • 2010(Oct) Patsy and John get invited to judge SIBA Midlands bear comp.
  • 2010(sep) Visit to Warminster Maltings, Patsy and John get slightly tiddled.
  • 2010(August) Patsy appears on Radio 4 Womans Hour with Dame Jenni Murry and Malissa Cole (writer)
  • 2010(June): Bottled Big John wins the 'best beer and cider' category at Fine Foods North West competition.
  • 2010 (May): Patsy & John visit Derbyshire to help Raw Brewery make their inaugural beer with Prospect's old brewery kit.
  • 2010 (April): Young Martin Grimshaw joins the brewery team as drayman and general help. Yes he is Dave's son, but he gets no special favours!
  • 2010(March) : One Twenty wins light beer of the festival at Wigan Beer Festival. Nutty slack is second most popular dark beer.
  • 2010 (February) : New beer brewed to commemorate the life of Beth Slevin and the move to the new brewery. Simply named 'One-Twenty' - the house number of Beth's home on Wigan Road in Standish where the old brewery was located. The beer is to be launched at opening night of the Wigan Beer Festival on 4th March, 2010.
  • 2010 (February) : A beer festival at The Robert Shaw (Wetherspoons) in Westhoughton features only Prospect beers and goes down a storm.
  • 2010 (January 30th) : First brew in new brewery - Silver Tally. Exactly 3 years and 1 day after being formed as a limited company.
  • 2010 (January) : Brewing commences in the new brewery at Bradley Hall Industrial Estate, in a building previously occupied by Heinz and used as a 'pudding shop'.
  • 2010 (January) : Brewing ceases at the 'brewery-in-a-garage' - the end of a glorious era.
  • 2010 (January) : Nutty Slack Wins Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Northern Region ‘Best Mild’ Silver Medal.
  • 2010 (January) : Roy Pearson converts from part-time to full-time Assistant Brewer. We now have 3 full-time and 1 part-time staff members.
  • 2009 (December) : Sadly, Beth Slevin dies at the ripe old age of 90. Without Beth, the brewery would simply not exist as it is housed in the garage of her home.
  • 2009 (November) : 'Lancashire Hoptop' (4.5%) brewed for Lancashire Day on November 27th. Bottles of it distributed free-of-charge in the centre of Standish on Lancashire Day.
  • 2009 (October) : A new autumnal beer (Panned Out, 4.0%) launched at Berkeley Beer Festival. Beer name derived from a 'name-the-beer' competition run by The Berkeley in Wigan.
  • 2009 (June) : New summer beer (Oresome, 3.9%) brewed and made with lemon-grass and fresh lemons.
  • 2009 (June) : Dave Grimshaw, Roy Pearson and John Slevin train to become brewers to ease Patsy's brewing responsibilities. Particularly useful as Patsy needed to convalesce after a small operation. (Some say it is was purely co-incidence that she was laid up in bed for the whole of the second week of Wimbledon.)
  • 2009 (June) : Roy Pearson joins the staff as part-time Assistant Brewer.
  • 2009 (June) : Extra Fermentation vessel added to the brew house. This means we can brew 50%  more beer!
  • 2009 (May) : The Crown at Worthington hold their Wigan brewers beer festival and showcase all Prospect beers including the last ever barrel of Toothpick (6.5%). They hold a competition to name the next Prospect beer – the winner is Rozzie Pearson (no relation to Roy, our Assistant Brewer) with ‘Ore’some.
  • 2009 (May) : We brew our 100th ‘Gyle’ (i.e. batch)
  • 2009 (March) : Nutty Slack Wins Society of Independent Brewers National ‘Best Mild’ Silver Award.
  • 2009 (January 29th) : Prospect Brewery celebrates two years since it was incorporated as a limited company.  (First beer Produced August 2007)
  • 2009 (January) : Nutty Slack Wins Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Northern Region ‘Best Mild’ Gold Award, and Silver for ‘Overall Best Beer’.
  • 2009 (January) : Prospect Brewery Features on BBC TV ‘Oz and James drink to Britain’. Patsy holds centre stage for about 5 minutes keeping Oz Clark and James May in order.
  • 2009 (January) : Lorraine Bowden joins the staff as part-time Sales Assistant.
  • 2008 (July) : Oz Clark and James May (secretly) spend a day at the brewery filming for a new series to be launched in January.
  • 2008 (May) : Nutty Slack 3.9%, a delicious dark mild, launched.
  • 2008 (March) : Blinding Light 4.2% launched at Wigan Beer Festival - Winner of the bronze medal.
  • 2008 (March) : Prospect Brewery is nominated in the 'best new business' category for the BSBC awards.
  • 2008 (January) : Pickaxe Porter is launched as a winter beer, available until March.
  • 2007 (December 4th) : First bottled beers go on sale at Noel Chadwick's in Standish
  • 2007 (November) : Prospect Brewery joins SIBA DDS
  • 2007 (November) : First trial bottling
  • 2007 (November 22nd) : First brew of Open Cask
  • 2007 (November 1st) : First brew of winter special - Clementine
  • 2007 (October 6th) : First brew of Silver Tally
  • 2007 (August 31st) : First beer delivery
  • 2007 (August 24th) : First brew of Gold Rush
  • 2007 (August 23rd) : First brew of Pioneer
  • 2007 (August 20th) : First commercial order for 8 firkins
  • 2007 (June 26th) : Take delivery of first of 200 firkins
  • 2007 (April 30th) : Take delivery of 5 barrel plant
  • 2007 (April 10th) : Patsy now has the bug to become a brewer and negotiates to buy a 5 barrel plant for the brewery (from Bank Top).
  • 2007 (March 14th) : Patsy volunteers to work at a Bank Top Brewery .
  • 2007 (January 29th) : Formed limited company ...  Prospect Brewery Ltd. is born.
  • 2007 (January 23rd) : Patsy and John start training to become brewers.
  • 1832 : (About six thirty on 31st December 2006) Patsy decides she has had enough of the child care industry. The North West region covering everything from Bristol to Edinburgh and Liverpool to Hull means that she spends too much time behind the wheel, instead of behind a glass of real ale.