Which witch?

The Moorhouse's Brewery in the North West of England has survived through difficult times and is now branching out. Dominic Roskrow visited it

On paper at least, it was a good enough idea: travel to the depressed North West of England and report how the community was turning its back on its traditional past and embracing the future, symbolised by the regional brewery.

That was until I spoke to my first local.

In retrospect perhaps it was a big ask. The area between Manchester and the Lake District has been blighted by unemployment and economic hardship.

Its towns, Oldham, Burnley, Blackburn and Rochdale among them, once thriving centres of the textile industry, are now wastelands riddled with racial tension; breeding grounds for extremists. Its economy is depressed and has been for some years.

A pint here will cost you about two-thirds of the London price.

The other side of the coin, though, is that the population is genuinely open and friendly.

So perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised when the only bloke at the bar in the Coach and Horses in Edenfield started chatting to me about what he did for a living.

“I sell black puddings,” he said.

For readers unfamiliar with this delicacy, let’s just say that even hardened meat eaters often draw the line here. Black puddings are the culinary equivalent of bull fighting, an x-rated macho meal embraced by the North of Britain and reviled just about everywhere else.

“But we do a vegetarian version which I reckon tastes just as good,” my new friend informs me.

“Some of my diehard regulars don’t want it. They say they can’t see the point of a vegetarian pudding, but .....

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By Dominic Roskrow

Section : British Breweries

Page number : 16