West Yorkshire's Otley raises glass to pub town claim with launch of historic ale trail leaflet
Cllr Mary Vickers, Greg Mulholland, Barry Tomlinson, Peter Jackson, Elise Brumfitt.
The West Yorkshire town of Otley is staking its claim as one of Britain’s premier pub places with the launch of an ale trail leaflet that’s set to help further boost to its growing tourism trade.
The Historic Otley Ale Trail features a map of the town showing all of its 18 hostelries along with a description of each one and a history of it as a famous pub town.
The initiative was suggested by the town’s MP Greg Mulholland and was researched, written and delivered by Pub Club volunteers.
The team also secured sponsorship from FirstBus, WharfeBank Brewery, Enterprise Inns, Market Town Taverns, Punch Taverns, Otley Town Council and Cllr Sandy Lay (Otley & Yeadon Ward & Leeds City Council) through a donation from his MICE Money (Members Improvements in the Community and the Environment).
It is the first time that a tourism trail of this nature has been produced that, not only, features all of the town’s current pubs but also the “lost” ones, those that are no longer hostelries, and the guide shows when they closed and what they are now so that visitors can walk around and see the whole history of this famous pub town.
Local MP and the president of Otley Pub Club, Greg Mulholland, said: “I am delighted that the Historic Otley Ale Trail will be available for visitors to the town to discover all of its 18 pubs, as well as providing information on all the lost ones. It will be great to see it in the pubs and tourist information offices in Otley and the surrounding area.
“The Historic Otley Ale Trail will be an excellent tool for promoting the town as a historic pub town and will undoubtedly provide a significant boost for tourism which will be fantastic, not just for its pubs, but for the wider business community.
“A massive thank you must go to all those who have been involved in the research, design and production of the leaflet, as well as all those who have kindly sponsored the leaflet’s production.”
The chairman of Otley Pub Club, Peter Jackson, said: “The Historic Otley Ale Trail is an excellent way of showing the current and historical importance of pubs to Otley and, importantly, it will help encourage people to visit them and the town helping to boosting trade.
“Ale trails are popular in other areas and in themselves have become a reason for people to visit a town. They can be particularly helpful for the ‘outlying pubs’ that do not attract town centre custom but also for making people realise that the town is a good place to go for a night out.”
