North Brewing Co unveils new multi-million pound 'Springwell' in Buslingthorpe Lane

The Leeds-based business is opening its 'Springwell' site, which will be housed in a former tannery on Buslingthorpe Lane, Sheepscar.

The move will allow the brewery to double its capacity, increasing its output to 16,000 hectolitres - which is the equivalent of 2.8 million pints a year.

Springwell will become the headquarters for the brewery and its family of seven bars and taprooms, which includes North Bar on New Briggate, Alfred in Meanwood and Further North in Chapel Allerton.

It will also create new jobs, with the business already securing a Business Growth Programme Fund from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

However, as well as an office, the new space will also become a 500 person capacity taproom for the public.

Guests will be able to drink draught North beers fresh from the brewery and go on brewery tours.

The space will play host to festivals, events, street food traders, art exhibitions and become a space for private hire.

It will also become home to the hugely successful Eat North street food festivals which will be held at the venue every weekend.

Co-founder John Gyngell said: “We are incredibly excited to make the move to Springwell.

"The last five years have seen fantastic growth at the brewery: We have consistently doubled our production year on year, and have reached the limits of our capacity to brew at our current site.

"Our strong sales mix including export, supermarkets and online sales has seen us achieve record growth throughout 2020.

"The support in Leeds for our business has been phenomenal and we’ve been humbled by the love shown for our brand."

"We are inspired by breweries in the USA who have created destination taprooms at their breweries, and we cannot wait to do something similar in North Leeds.

"Creating a hub for North at the brewery will strengthen the connection between our team, bars, brewery and wider community. "

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Springwell will also be home to the North Brewing Co webshop, an area of the business that has seen growth of 800 per cent in 2020 due to lockdown restrictions.

The new flagship Springwell Lager will be sold via the webshop when it goes on sale on November 25.

The opening of Springwell has been temporarily delayed by Covid-19 but the 21,000 square foot factory has already undergone a careful restoration.

Its owners are now preparing to open to the public as soon as the Government allows.

When it does open, it will be table service and ordering via app due to coronavirus restrictions.

North’s original brewery in Sheepscar will be home to the Taverner’s Walk Small Batch Project.

This is an experimental arm of the brewery allowing North to experiment with barrel ageing, sours and fermentation projects.

North Bar and North Brewing Co

North Bar was opened by John Gyngell and Christian Townsley in New Briggate in 1997.

It quickly became a very popular bar with locals and won the prestigious ‘Best places to drink in Britain’ in the Observer Food Monthly Awards.

The company have since expanded the North Bar family of bars to seven venues in Leeds and the surrounding area: from Preston Bar nestled in leafy Oakwood to the cycling hub at North Bar Social in Otley and the scandi-inspired North Bar in Harrogate.

In 2015 they turned their 10- year dream of making their own beer into a reality by opening a 15bbl brewery, North Brewing Co, featuring a 200-person capacity taproom, just half a mile from their original flagship North Bar in Leeds.

North Brewing Co will move to their new home, Springwell on Buslingthorpe Lane, in November 2020.