Few names are more closely linked with Bedford than brewery giant Wells & Young's.

And the Times & Citizen was invited behind the scenes this week at the firm's premises in Havelock Street, Queens Park, to see the brewing process in action.

Managing director Nigel McNally explained why the company is so proud of Bedford.

He said: "The company has a real commitment to Bedford. We have been here since 1876 and obviously we are very proud of the town.

"We promote local events such as the music stand at the River Festival, and we promote our own events such as beer tastings, and talks about beer origins, and what drinks go with which other products.

"And there is even our own well in north Bedford which was sunk by Charles Wells himself in 1902, which means we have our own supply of water which we know is going to be of the highest quality."

Charles Wells was formed 132 years ago and has been on its
present 17-acre base since 1976, which was one of the last new breweries to built in the UK.

Two years ago Charles Wells merged with Young's to create Wells & Young's brewing company, and the move was followed by a £6 million upgrade of the site's cask filling lines.

And now the company has a wider vision which extends beyond the pubs of England.

Mr McNally said: "The philosophy of the company has been to be to develop a comprehensive portfolio of specialist ales and lagers for discerning drinkers, both in this country and abroad.

"Bombardier and Courage, for example, are proving very successful as far away as Russia, Hungary and the USA. And in Canada we are the largest exporter of UK beer."


Brewing facts

Wells & Young's brews, imports and sells 800,000 barrels of beer a year, or around 400 pints a second;

The beer is made using just four ingredients - malted barley, hops, yeast and water;

The bottle filler on the bottling line can fill 30,000 300ml bottles per hour, while the case packer packs up to 60 cases of eight bottles per minute. And all the packaging material is fully recyclable;

On the cask line there are two robots called Eagle and Ram, named after the two breweries that merged. 200,000 barrels of beer are casked every year and there is no waste material because the casks are reused;

Wells & Young's runs brewery tours on Monday to Thursday evenings for groups of between 20 and 30.