Andrea Leadsom visits Wellingborough brewery to see demand for locally-brewed beer

With 22 microbreweries now open in Northamptonshire - up from just eight in 2010 - Mrs Leadsom visited Hart Family Brewers in Nene Court by The Embankment yesterday (Friday).

The brewery makes around 5,000 pints a week for Northants pubs using only British grains and hops and they are planning to expand next year due to demand from licensees.

Speaking during her visit, Mrs Leadsom said: “Our food and drink is renowned the world over and for most of us there’s nothing more quintessentially British than enjoying a pulled pint of ale in a classic English pub.

“Thanks to the popularity of our pint we’re now seeing a record number of microbreweries opening up in Northamptonshire and across the country as a whole, bringing quality beer to communities across the nation and creating countless jobs and opportunities for our economy.

“Hart Family Brewers are bringing a real boost to Northamptonshire and showing our independent ales can rival the very best.”

Rob Hart, co-owner of Hart Family Brewers, said: “The renaissance in locally-brewed beer has really gained pace in the last four years we’ve been brewing and we’re delighted to show the Environment Secretary our progress and growth.

“We’re committed to supporting local suppliers which is why we use 100 per cent British malt and hops for all our beers.

“Cask Ale is uniquely British and it’s great to see the Government lending its support to Cask Ale Week and celebrating our national drink.”

Cask Ale Week is in full flow this week – a national event to promote the UK’s ale industry and celebrate our national drink.

With almost 900,000 people employed by the beer and pubs sector in 2015, the British beer boom is helping to drive our food and drink industry – which, from farm to fork, contributes over £100 billion to the UK economy.

Britain now has more breweries than any other country, with the latest figures from the British Beer and Pubs Association revealing a new brewery opened in Britain every other day in 2015, with almost 8 billion pints sold.