Kirkstall Visit August 2025

BHS Visit August 2025

Visit to Kirkstall Brewery – 18-19 August.

Phil Wilson writes:-

BHS last visited Leeds in 2008 to take a tour of the vast Tetley operation. So, an invitation from Kirkstall Brewery to return to the city was something we couldn’t pass up! Our visit was spread over two days in August, with us visiting Kirkstall’s modern brewhouse, some of their local historic pubs plus a tour of the Tetley headquarters building and a visit to Springfield Brewery.

We were greeted by Steve Holt, founder of Kirkstall’s and a keen collector of historic brewing-related artifacts, particularly his vast collection of original Victorian pub mirrors. Steve is keen to preserve local pub heritage and all 6 of the pubs in their estate have been tastefully renovated with this in mind.

Founded in 2011, Kirkstall quickly outgrew its original site and after 5 years made a major investment in a new brewhouse with taproom and kitchen, based around an old diary building. Brewing moved to the modern brewhouse in 2016. It has a 5 vessel 50HL plant that sits alongside the original 8-barrel equipment, which is still used for several of their special brews including their Prize Ales. Kirkstall today produces a range of cask, keg and canned beers and has recently begun a collaboration with Harveys of Lewes. Kirkstall currently owns 5 Leeds pubs plus the Narrow Boat Inn in Skipton.

Following our tour of the brewhouse, Steve took us to a couple of Kirkstall’s iconic pubs, the Cardigan Arms and the Kirkstall Bridge Inn.

The Cardigan Arms, designed and built in the 1890’s by Thomas Winn, is Grade II listed and following renovation work by Kirkstall almost 10 years ago, the pub is now a fine example of the Italianate-style. Beautiful wood panels feature in all bars along with fine examples of etched glass. The bars are also used to display some of Steve’s mirror collection. We were also given a ‘behind the scenes’ look at what remains of the adjoining old brewhouse, a common feature of pubs in the city where brewing would often be done ‘out the back’ by individual publicans.

We then moved to the Kirkstall Bridge Inn which probably dates from the late 1700’s. This was the first pub taken over by Kirkstall’s in 2013 and again has been thoughtfully preserved to retain its original features. It sits within sight of the original 1833 Kirkstall Brewery, the shell and chimney of which are still standing although much of the site is now turned over to student accommodation. The original brewery was well placed to transport beer into the city by road and just a short distance from the River Aire and close by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Kirkstall’s beer was also shipped much farther afield on barges and ships to as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

The evening took us to two equally iconic Leeds pubs both Grade II listed, firstly the Adelphi, also designed by Thomas Winn and built in 1901 on the site of an earlier pub. Much of the original interior is preserved including etched glass panels and tiling. Then onto Whitelocks in Turks Head Yard, the oldest ale house in Leeds dating from 1715. Day 2 started at ‘The Tetley’ housed on the ground floor of the art deco building opened in 1931 to form the headquarters of Tetley brewery. Since the brewery closed in 2011, most of the original brewery buildings have long gone and the immediate area in undergoing considerable re-development as part of the Aire Park scheme. Kirkstall took on the lease for the building in early 2024 and will continue to operate it as an outlet to sell both their own beers and those of other local breweries such as Leeds Brewery, Holts and North, all of which have been recently acquired by Kirkstall.

Following a fascinating talk on the brewing history of Leeds, Steve gave us a tour of the entire building. The ground floor houses Kirkstall’s pub and is used to display many of his brewing artifacts. With plenty of wall space he has put on an excellent exhibition of his mirror collection. The rest of the building is in a poor state, we will have to wait and see how it will be preserved once the re-development takes place. The basement is currently used for storage and revealed yet more mirrors awaiting a more permanent home.

Our visit to Leeds concluded with a trip to the Springwell Brewery, home to the North Brewing Company (see North Brewing Co Ltd). Still operated by Kirkstall but recently acquired by Keystone Brewing Group, this brewery, housed in a former leather works, has an annual capacity of 2.8 million pints.

Many thanks go to Steve Holt, who found time in his busy schedule to host us over the two days.

North Brewing Co Ltd. Courtesy Michael Connors

Click on the left or right buttons to scroll through our gallery.

Click on the Toggle button in the centre to see the thumbnails.