Liverpool’s Love Lane Brewery wins top awards and CAMRA boost just a year after relaunch

Love Lane Brewery has won four major awards and received a massive boost from CAMRA just over a year after it was relaunched.

The city’s Bridgewater Street brewery has recently been included in CAMRA’s (Campaign for Real Ale) Good Beer Guide which recognises the progress it has made with its cask ales in the last 12 months.

And just last week it won four categories in the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers & Associates) North West Region Beer Competition including Gold Awards for its Higson Bitter 3.8% cask ale (Cask British Bitter up to 4.4%) and Love Lane Lager 4.0% (Session Lager up to 4.4%) which will now go through to national finals in Liverpool in March 2026.

Its Love Lane NEIPA 5% won Bronze Awards in the Cask Pale Ale 4.4% – 5.5% and Keg Pale Ale 4.5% – 5.5%.

Rod Grainger, operations director for T J Morris Brewing which saved the brands from closure when it took over in December 2023, says:

“We are delighted and really proud of what we have achieved in just the first 12 months.

“It’s good to win awards because it shows that people like and recognise our brewery for producing good beer.”

Encouraging too, is the fact that while also producing beer for its own Love Lane Brewery Bar and Kitchen, it is celebrating records sales to other bars and hotels throughout the city and beyond.

The Cavern, Wetherspoons, Ship & Mitre, Ye Cracke, St Peter’s Tavern, The Baltic Fleet, The Cobden Vaults, The Monro, The Pilgrim, The Brunswick, The Blue House Beer Hall, The Lock Up Bar, Love & Rockets, Frederik’s, The Quarter and The Queen of Hope Street are just a few of the well-known pubs it regularly supplies to.

Hotels like Radisson RED, Novotel Liverpool Paddington Village, the Pullman, INNSiDE by Melia, Hope Street Hotel and The Dolby Hotel also now stock Love Lane brews, seeing ‘the value of a good local beer for customers and visitors to the city’.

It also supplies canned beers to The Ivy Liverpool.

Love Lane Brewery Bar and Kitchen reopened after refurbishment in April last year, and the brewery relaunched production of its core range of beers around June, with Love Lane lager, pale ale, neipa and session once again available in the Baltic venue (and Home Bargains which is also owned by Tom Morris) as well as bringing back another famous Liverpool brand Higson’s which it bought the rights to produce.

Rod said:

“Higsons is a very important brand and a lot of people remember it fondly, it dates back to 1780 so it’s very much a part of Liverpool’s heritage and history. It’s had different producers over the years and there were a number of years where it wasn’t produced at all, so we’re proud to have brought that back.

“We’ve got it in some good pubs in the Liverpool area and we believe we can do more with it which is great. Local beers are important to Liverpool, and we’re delighted to be able to help provide our beers across the city.”

Rod says it’s a good time for Love Lane, in terms of the success and growth the brewery is already seeing, and the plans it has for further expansion.

“It’s an exciting time for us.

“We are brewing four really nice consistent and award winning cask and keg beers now, and we have just brought a micro brewing plant which we are looking to start installing and commissioning in the coming weeks.

“This will allow us to play with different beer styles and produce a bigger range of beers to our customers, both in our bar and kitchen and around the Merseyside area, and that’s very important for me in terms of being able to diversify.

“Liverpool is a vibrant place, and it’s so brilliant as it continues to keep investing in new pubs and refurbishing others; that’s great to see.

“We had to grow and produce good beers and work very hard to sell them to local pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels because there wouldn’t be a future without that.

“We want to make the brewery side of the business stack up long term, and I’m happy with the progress,” smiles Rod.

“I’m hoping next year will be an even bigger year as we are seeking a SALSA quality standard that many pub groups and retailers demand and, when we get it, will allow us to grow further and add another layer of confidence in our beers and our brands.

“We have made great progress, there is more to do clearly, but the proof of the pudding is there. It’s hard in hospitality and one of the jobs for us is to keep fighting and keep looking for opportunities.

“We are definitely getting a following now and hopefully 2026 is yet another year to step on it and move forward.”

Find out more about Love Lane Brewery here.

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