Cheers for the Cheshire Cheese – the latest chapter in a Titanic tale of pub rescues, jobs and growth
Brewery bosses who have opened seven pubs in seven years and created more than 150 jobs is forecasting further growth in 2014.
Titanic Brewery has just launched the Cheshire Cheese, Buxton, its eighth North Midlands pub.
The brewery is run by brothers Keith and Dave Bott. With a strong belief in the position of the pub at the heart of the community, the Bott brothers have been at the forefront of a revival of real ale pubs despite a recession that has seen many casualties in the pub world.
“We passionately believe that good pubs foster positive community spirit and are part of the fabric of British society,” said Keith.
“In 2014, we will continue to look for more sites where we can bring great community local back from the brink,”
Titanic has concentrated on reopening community pubs within a 20 mile radius of its Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent base – from the Bott’s home town of Stafford in the south to Buxton in North Derbyshire.
Like many of Titanic’s pubs, the Cheshire Cheese was a traditionally successful pub that had fallen on hard times.
“The Cheshire Cheese is a pub full of character and we have made sympathetic changes to make it as welcoming as possible to customers,” said Keith.
“We have a strong community ethos. We recognise the importance of bringing people together, we also strive to promote all that is great locally and will champion local food, drink and people, recognising the benefits of sourcing from people we know and trust, to reinvest in our own community, and to provide the best possible taste experience.”
The Cheshire Cheese will be run in an agreement between Titanic and Everards Brewery who announced the purchase of the premises in June, 2013.
The partners first came together in 2007 to open Titanic’s second pub venture, the Greyhound, Newcastle-under-Lyme. This pioneered a successful programme known as Project William which has seen Leicester based Everards partner with a host of smaller brewers to buy and revive formerly failing pubs.
“We are proud to have pioneered Project William,” said Keith who is chairman of SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers.
The eight pubs in the Titanic fleet are the Cheshire Cheese, the Greyhound, the White Star, Stoke, the Royal Exchange, Stone, the Bulls Head, Burslem, the Sun Inn, Stafford, the Roebuck, Leek and the Hollybush at Seighford, near Stafford.
