Boost For Wharfedale Businesses As Brewery Launches Ale Trail
Ales Way leaflet
Wharfedale Brewery, housed at the back of the Flying Duck Brewpub in Ilkley, is to launch a new tourist attraction this weekend which it is hoped will benefit businesses in the Yorkshire Dales.
The Ales Way – Wharfedale’s Ale Trail, takes real ale lovers on a journey from Ben Rhydding to Hubberholme, encompassing 15 of Yorkshire’s most iconic pubs, the vast majority of which can be reached via the Pride Of The Dales bus services which the brewery sponsors.
Visitors to each pub will receive a stamp when they order a pint of Wharfedale Blonde, Best or Black. When they have collected 10 stamps they will be given a free Ales Way
t-shirt whilst also being invited to be entered into a “Hall Of Fame”. Should they manage to visit all 15 pubs on the ale trail they will also receive a souvenir box set containing two bottles of beer and a Wharfedale Brewery branded pint glass.
Marketing Director Jonathan Shepherd said: “I hope The Ales Way will capture the imagination of the public and become an exciting new tourist attraction throughout the Upper Wharfedale district.
We have been overwhelmed by the fantastic support we have received from such wonderful pubs and hope to repay them by bringing them increased footfall, which in turn should mean extra brewery sales for us.
Whilst encouraging more people to visit the pubs and use the bus company with added frequency, the ale trail is intended to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace which should allow people plenty of time to patronise the many wonderful little shops, café’s and restaurants as well.
The list of pubs signing up to the initiative reads like a whose who of country inns. The Trail starts with the Wheatley Arms in Ben Rhydding, the Flying Duck in Ilkley and the Crown in Addingham, before moving up river to the New Inn and the Craven Arms at Appletreewick, the Red Lion at Bursall, the Clarendon Hotel at Hebden, the Grassington House Hotel, the Foresters Arms and Deveonshire Hotel in Grassington, before moving across to the Fountaine Inn at Linton, then onto the Gamekeeper’s Inn at Threshfield, the Blue Bell Inn at Kettlewell, the Buck Inn at Buckden and finishes at the George Inn at Hubberholme.
The Ales Way website features a host of useful information including bus timetables, pub opening and food serving times, a map of the route, tasting notes on the brewery’s beers and details of how to claim ale trail souvenirs.
Leaflets and stamp cards can be picked up from any of the participating pubs and local tourist information centres. For further information visit www.thealesway.com
