Milk Town brewery gets set to pull its first pints

The Milk Town Brewing Company was launched in June at the Avonside Enterprise Park in Melksham and has just produced its first casks of pale ale.

It’s been set up by Dave Martin, 58, and James Sidwick, 44, who met at one of the town’s pubs owned by a rival brewing company.

The name and logo were created by Dave and inspired by Avonside’s riverside location and its former life as the United Dairies milk factory.

Dave Martin and James Sidwick take a break from setting up their new micro-brewery, Milk Town Brewing Company. (Image: Rebecca Noakes)

Dave, 58, said: “It’s also inspired by Old English meaning of ‘Melksham’. What a tribute to the heritage of the place and soon to be wrapped around a modern craft beer.”

Their collaboration started when David and James tag-teamed brewing beer for another company in the town.

Over time, following multiple tap room visits and back-of-an-envelope planning, they were ready to set up on their own.

But it was down to a fortuitous visit to the Ten Hides Distillery run by Andrew Wilson that they came across their future unit at Avonside.

Milk Town Brewing Company's new micro-brewery and tap room at Avonside Enterprise Park in Melksham (Image: Rebecca Noakes)

James said: “It’s a small space, but small is the secret at the moment. We want to be producing beer in small and often batches.

“We feel lucky to have got this space for our microbrewery and tap room.

“It’s exciting down here. I love it. Renovating the exterior is making it a more prominent site, and it’s like it’s creating a new part of the town centre.

“Our idea is to encourage more people, not to take people away. We want to put Melksham on the map.”

The pair have invested over £40,000 and lots of time setting up Milk Town Brewing Company and are preparing to pull their first pints next weekend.

Dave said: “We will be opening our own tap room on Saturday (September 7) at 12 noon.”

Milk Town Brewing Company's name and logo incorporates the historical image reference to Avonside and United Dairies. (Image: Rebecca Noakes)

The Milk Town Brewing Company gained its premises licence in July and has just taken delivery of 72 casks only a few days ago.

It is using barley from Warminster Maltings Ltd and hops from Charles Faram & Co in Malvern, Worcestershire.

The micro-brewery has the capacity to produce 24,000 litres of beer a year - that’s around 42,240 pints.

Its first beer is a pale ale called Smile & Wave, with a 3.9 per cent alcohol by volume rating.