North, the independent Leeds-based brewery and bar group, has announced the sale of its original brewery site at Taverner’s Walk, Sheepscar, to Tartarus Beers.
Tartarus Beers founders Jordan Orpen and Jack Roberts
North started brewing at the Taverner’s Walk site in 2015, building on the success of its original venture, North Bar. Since opening the bar in 1997, North has grown to a family of eight bars and a brewery, with new taprooms in Birmingham and Manchester opening later this year.
During the pandemic, North undertook a large expansion, renovating a former Victorian tannery and building its new
21,000 sq ft brewery and taproom, Springwell.
North has now moved all its beer production to Springwell, including its experimental side project, Field Recordings, and can now announce the sale of the first home of its brewery to Tartarus.
Tartarus Beers was founded in 2020 by Jack Roberts and Jordan Orpen, with the shared vision of wanting to produce a range of high-quality craft beers. They wanted to enter the market with a style of beers that they felt were under-represented in the craft beer scene, particularly in the current UK market.
Their focus is on brewing imperial and European beers, but they also produce a wide range of styles, from clean crisp lagers and easy-drinking saisons to full bodied stouts.
Traditional styles of beers are usually met with a Tartarus twist, their latest invention being a squid ink, seaweed, and yuzu imperial gose, which was released to celebrate the brewery’s second anniversary. The beers are named after mythical creatures and legends, with each brew getting its own tale which you can read about while sipping.
New taproom
The acquisition of the North site will enable Tartarus to increase its their production and launch a barrel-ageing programme. In addition to this, it will be opening an on-site taproom. Next year will see the taproom host takeovers, events, and food vendors.
John Gyngell, co-founder and director of North, said: “It’s brilliant to see our original home at Taverner’s Walk in such exciting hands. The beer scene in Leeds has flourished over the past ten years, with an incredible group of breweries operating in the city.
“Opening Springwell has increased our brewing capacity, enabling us to pass our original home on to the next generation of new brewers. We can’t wait to see what Tartarus create there!”
Jordan Orpen said: “We are really excited to have our own brewery and taproom after we have been looking for quite some time. Finding the right location is difficult and we are very lucky that John and Christian thought of us as a good fit to take over where North Brewing Co started. Having our own brewery has allowed us to upscale production, bring packaging in house and, most importantly, serve our beers in our very own taproom!
“It has also given us the capacity to move forward with a barrel project, which is something we have wanted to do for a while. Look out for our first barrel- aged beer coming soon! We are excited to get started and look forward to calling
Taverner’s Walk our home. Thanks again to all of the team at North for supporting us through of all of this — you guys are ace!”
• Tartarus Beers’ taproom will open on Friday, 25th November. Opening hours are 5pm-10pm on Fridays, and 2pm-10pm on Saturdays. The address: Unit 6 Taverner’s Walk Industrial Estate, Sheepscar Grove, Leeds LS7 1AH.
