Slaughterhouses were once commonplace in the countryside providing the link between livestock producer and consumer, and often run on the same premises as the butcher.

Stricter legislation and the increased costs incurred as a result saw a cull of hundreds of them right across the country and the slaughterhouse at Great Heck, just south of Selby, was one such casualty.

Local village breweries were nearly as plentiful as slaughterhouses in years gone by when the rural population wasn't quite as mobile as it is today. These are now coming back into vogue with the penchant for real ale and the latest is in an old slaughterhouse.

The Great Heck Brewing Company began brewing in earnest two months ago and their fledgling stable of beers includes the uncompromising Slaughter-house Porter which comes in at a strength of 5.4 per cent.

Great Heck residents Denzil Vallance and Jason Hall were motorcycle road racers who both competed at a national level and have a string of race wins and championship titles between them, including a UK championship in 2000 with a team called Piston Broke. It is this passion that brought them together and has led to their first beers being delivered to pubs in Yorkshire and Lancashire in recent weeks.

Denzil and his wife Lisa live in the premises that once included the slaughterhouse, which in turn became a motorbike garage and is
now the brewery.

"Jason and I first met through road racing with the Auto66 club based in Scarborough," he says. "He and his wife Julie, and Lisa and myself are good friends and at a barbecue a couple of years ago we were talking about giving up racing. We said that if we ever did then it would be the time to start up our own brewery. It was Jason who introduced me to real ale and all four of us love it, probably even more so now that we are selling our own."

Denzil, born in Bradford, ran his own mobile car valeting enterprise in his teens and early 20s following a time as a motorcycle despatch rider. He still maintains an interest in Furniture 123 in Leeds, an online furniture businesses.

Having turned his hand to any number of businesses, he was impressed with Jason's attitude to making sure things happen, and with a combined love of beer he felt they had a great chance of bringing their plans to fruition.

"What Jason does is to put down on a list what he wants to achieve. Then he sets about achieving it. I rang him the day after we had started talking about running our own brewery to see whether he had put it on his list and he said he had. All I said was, 'Let's do it then'."

Denzil had the premises, Jason had a rudimentary knowledge of brewing, and in the two years since the thought made it to the top of the list, both have been busy in bringing about the beers they know they like best.

Jason, who had been home-brewing for about 10 years, has since completed his brewing qualifications at Sunderland University while Denzil set about transforming the former butcher's premises into the brewery which is now adorned with the obligatory hot liquor tank, big water tank, malt hopper and mash tun.

Some new businesses complain of red tape getting in their way, but Denzil is full of praise for all of those who have been a part of their plans. "We were about a year in getting planning permission, but that was not because anyone had got in our way. Everyone at Selby Council has been really interested in what we're doing and they have been right behind us from day one.

"We're now fully up and running and our first beer Great Heck YPA (Yorkshire Pale Ale) has already received great comments from the first three pubs it has been served in – The George and Dragon at West Haddlesey, the Rose and Crown at Rawcliffe and the Wheatsheaf at Burn. Our first customers are particularly important to us because they are all top-notch real ale pubs and making the right impression from the start is what we're looking for."

Further outlets have since been added as Great Heck Brewing Company starts to make its mark. While neither Denzil nor Jason, who works as technical project leader for Cummins Turbo Technologies in Huddersfield, are about to give up their day-jobs just yet, Denzil outlines their commitment. "We are all about beer. We love drinking it and we love producing it. Our Great Heck YPA is a 4.3 per cent well-hopped, malty-flavoured beer that has real body and viscosity. In the fermenter at the moment is our new 3.8 per cent session beer.

"The main characteristic of all our beers is that each has a complex malted flavour. That's because we want people to really enjoy the taste as much as we do."

Wives Lisa and Julie are also very involved in the business and if her chattiness is anything to go by then they have a ready-made salesperson for the future in the shape of Denzil and Lisa's four-year-old daughter, Lucy May Blossom.

And there is a link with the past within the building. "We've kept the winch for lifting carcases," says Denzil. "It's good to have a bit
of history."

Great Heck Brewing Company: 01977 661430