Kelham Island Brewery: Independent brewery saved by group of beer-loving local businessmen

Kelham Island Brewery, which is Sheffield’s oldest independent brewery, has been saved by a group led by Tramslines festival co-founder James O’Hara. He is joined by his brother, financial analyst Tom, Simon Webster and Jim Harrison from Thornbridge Brewery, creative agency founder Peter Donohoe and Ben Rymer from We Are Beer, a beer festival organiser.

James O’Hara, who sprung into action to save the brewery after hearing about its closure, said: “Kelham Island Brewery, and its flagship beer Pale Rider, are known and revered beyond Sheffield. It’s heritage that we, as a city, should be really proud of. We couldn't let that just disappear, it means too much within the city and to the UK’s beer culture for it to become another Wikipedia entry.”

The brewery was founded in 1990 by Dave Wickett and started off in the garden of the Fat Cat pub in Kelham Island. Many of its former brewers have gone on to set up successful businesses of their own, including Abbeydale, Thornbridge, Magic Rock, Bradfield and Brewdog.

Pale Rider, the brewery’s flagship beer, won the Champion Beer of Britain in 2004, it was the first winner to use hops from the USA and is still the only beer in South Yorkshire to have ever received the accolade. It will return to the Fat Cat as part of CAMRA’s Steel City Beer Festival on October 19. The beer will then be delivered to the wider on-trade from the following week.

Ed Wickett, former Kelham Island Brewery owner and son of founder Dave Wickett said: ‘I’m really pleased the brewery is in such safe hands. It’ll be great to serve Pale Rider in the Fat Cat again’

Simon Webster, from Thornbridge Brewery, said: “Kelham Island Brewery has always been linked with Thornbridge. They were the reason we started the business. Theirs were the first beers we brewed and Dave Wickett was a guiding hand in the early days of Thornbridge.

"When I first heard about the closure, I immediately thought, how can we help? How can we save the heritage that the Wickett Family had built? I chatted passionately about what we could do with James and we formulated a plan to try to save those great beers. I’m so pleased we have been successful. We’re looking forward to brewing the beers and keeping Kelham Island Brewery alive in Sheffield and beyond.”

Jim Harrison added: “Dave was a good friend and really understood beer and its regional variations. He understood that to be successful you needed to get your beer to people outside of the area. He was years ahead of his time and I’m so proud that we have been able to save these beers from being lost forever.”

Ben Rymer, said: “American hops form the backbone of the modern craft beer scene, but what Dave was doing was really revolutionary. He really went out on a limb at the time and was a true visionary. No one was setting up breweries back then and the craft beer industry as we know it now simply didn’t exist.”