Staffordshire brewery shutting after 16 years in business

The brewing equipment of Essington-based Morton Brewery is being sold off.

Morton was started by beer enthusiasts Gary and Angela Morton in 2007 and is based at Essington Light Industrial Estate, Bognop Road.

The three-barrel brewery equipment including fermenters and casks is being offered for sale.

Mr Morton said the sale was due to retirement from brewing.

Morton Brewery will continue to source beer for his micropub.

He started out brewing from his garage in Coven as a hobby and then invested £20,000 in creating the brewery.

The couple also run the award-winning Hail to the Ale micropub in Pendeford Avenue, Claregate, Wolverhampton. It opened in 2013.

The pub – which won the Wolverhampton branch of the Campaign for Real Ale's city pub of the year five years in a row up to 2019 – will continue and has three years left on its lease and a promise from the landlord to renew it for another 12.

It won the West Midlands county pub of the year in 2017.

Mr Morton said that he was now 62 and his wife was recovering from breast cancer which had been factors in deciding to stop brewing.

Mrs Morton said she was going to be putting her energy into raising awareness for the charity Breast Cancer Now.

"Brewing is hard work and we had been toying with the idea of retiring this year at some point but we had notification of a price increase on the rent of our unit and that made our minds up.

"We will be out by July 1, but I'll be doing a couple of brews up to March," added Mr Morton

Morton Brewery added new chillers to its fermenters and refurbished its casks in the first coronavirus lockdown.

Its beers include Jelly Roll, Coneydog Lite and Essington IPA.

*Slater's Brewery in Stafford announced it was closing in December after 27 years. The brewing equipment at St Albans Industrial estate has been sold to Kombucha Brewery in Manchester.

Craft brewery Dig Brew in River Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, also announced its closure earlier this month.