Bowland Brewery pours from a record-breaking bar in Clitheroe

Clitheroe has become one of the Ribble Valley's great food and drink towns, and few places capture that better than the Bowland Beer Hall at Holmes Mill. It is home to Bowland Brewery and to what is believed to be the longest continuous bar in Britain.

The building has a fascinating past. Holmes Mill is a Grade II listed former cotton mill dating from 1823, which grew through the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1910 its steam engines were replaced by a horizontal compound engine, which ran until the mill closed in the 1970s. That engine still stands in the engine room, now part of the beer hall.

After standing redundant for decades, the mill was redeveloped from 2015, with James Warburton leading the regeneration. The first section opened to the public in 2016, and the project has helped revitalise the centre of Clitheroe and created around 150 jobs.

The bar itself is the star attraction. Its 42 handpumps serve the full range of beers brewed by Bowland Brewery, and accounts of its length put it at around 105 to 107 feet. In 2017 the conversion won the CAMRA Pub Design Award, a recognition of how sensitively the industrial space was transformed.

Bowland Brewery has kept experimenting. In 2022 it set up its own beehive with a farm in nearby Rimington to supply honey for Bowland Bumble, a lightly hopped blonde ale with a double addition of honey. That same year it launched Bowland No.1 Gin, its first step into distilling.

The brewery's beers have also spread across the town. In 2023, Bowland Hen Harrier and Bowland Pilsner went on draught at The Grand in Clitheroe as part of a partnership between the two businesses.

National Geographic has highlighted Clitheroe as a culinary hotspot, and the beer hall is a big part of that reputation, drawing visitors who come for the beer and stay to explore the town and the surrounding valley.

The Bowland Beer Hall is at Holmes Mill in Clitheroe. Details of beers, brewery news and visiting information are on the Bowland Brewery website.