Lovely Nelly on the bar in the Commons

Local brewers Bill and Anna Scantlebury enjoyed a trip to the Houses of Parliament on 27 November to meet up with their MP for Tynemouth, Alan Campbell. Mr Campbell had helped them secure an order from Strangers’ Bar, for 5 casks of Cullercoats Brewery’s pale ale, Lovely Nelly.

The couple were invited to the bar for a pint of Lovely Nelly, which, they were told was going down very well with MPs. The beer is named after the ship wrecked off Whitley Sands in 1861; Cullercoats Lifeboat famously went to assist the Lovely Nelly, rescuing many crew members, as recorded in John Charlton’s painting “The Women”, which hangs in The Laing Art Gallery.

The brewers were able to update Mr Campbell on their progress to the final shortlist of three companies in the North Tyneside Business awards – startup category. The brewery is almost 2 years old and has produced over 300,000 pints of real ale, most of it sold locally. The winner is announced on Tuesday at an awards dinner.

Cullercoats brewery has grown steadily over the last two years, earning a loyal customer base both locally and further afield. During the same trip to London, Bill and Anna attended a beer festival at The Gunmakers Arms, where their full range of five beers have been on sale, alongside other North East brewers. The pub had pulled out all the stops, with Northumbrian pipers providing the tunes, and Craster kippers on the menu.