our story
The Lymestone Brewery is a family run micro-brewery established in Stone Staffordshire. We have made our home in the former Bents Brewery, which was closed in the late 1960’s following a take-over by Bass. Lymestone was established in 2008 by Ian Bradford who is best known to everyone as ‘Brad The Brewer’, shortly after this he was joined by his wife Viv and daughter Sarah, between them they laid the foundations for what the brewery is today.
Brad began working in the brewing industry way back in 1991, when micro brewing was still very much in its infancy. Over the following years he has seen monumental changes, not least during the pandemic. Since the Lymestone brewery started it has grown and adapted to satisfy market demands. A core range of cask beers has been supplemented with a changing range of monthly seasonal beers, all of which now make it into bottle to meet the growing home drinking market.
2012 saw the successful opening of our first pub ‘The Lymestone Vaults’, quickly followed by a second, ‘The Borehole’ in 2015.
The pandemic presented the hospitality industry with many challenges. We at Lymestone adapted well to the increased demand for bottled beers and saw internet sales soar, but this was at the expense of cask beer sales, with pubs initially being forced to close and when they reopened, habits had changed, and many pub goers were reluctant to accept the new restrictions imposed by the government.
In January 2021 Viv was hospitalised and diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer. She contracted covid during her week in hospital. She spent months in hospital, surviving a coma and intubation before recovering sufficiently to return to work and train Sarah in running the business.
In January 2022 we made the difficult decision to close our first pub The Lymestone Vaults in Newcastle-under-Lyme. By March, Viv’s brave fight against the cancer was over. She was our driving force, she was key in every aspect of our lives, at home and at work. Viv was a firm believer that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything. So, we have. The brewery has continued to evolve: Sarah now manages the brewery; Brad is out delivering the beer and Cask Washer Hayden became Apprentice and now Qualified Brewer Hayden!
In March this year the first of a new generation of Lymestone brewers was born as Sarah and Matt welcomed Oswin into the world.
Some things haven’t changed though; we still buy and sell as much as we can locally. Beef and veg for our Lobby is locally sourced as is the ground coffee sold at the pub. Our beer is bottled locally in Cheddleton and is all Vegan friendly these days! Most of our cask beer is sold within a 50 mile radius although our bottles are available on the internet for purchases nationwide.
