A WOMAN descended from the family responsible for a historic brewery has commissioned a Wilsden brewer to make a beer to commemorate the old business.

Kathryn Hey discovered she had a family link to Joseph Hey and Co Ltd, Northbrook Brewery, Bradford, which closed 50 years ago after it was acquired by a firm in Halifax.

To mark the five decades since the local company produced its last ale she commissioned a beer from Bingley Brewery, which is based in Old Mill Yard, Wilsden.

Brewing began last Thursday (August 11) and the beer, called Hey's Gold, will be available next month (Sept) at pubs in Keighley, Bingley, Shipley and Bradford.

Miss Hey, 49, explained that she had been brought up with a vague idea that she had a family connection to Joseph Hey and Co, which was founded in 1898 by Joseph Hey who came to Bradford from Oakworth with his uncle William.

She said: "A friend called Mick Pendleton built my family tree and I then carried out the research which led me to find out this connection was real.

"Further investigations at the local studies library in Bradford led me to brewery historian Malcolm Toft, who'd written articles on this same brewery.

"I came up with the idea of having a beer brewed to commemorate 50 years since the brewery closed, as a tribute to my ancestors.

"I also wanted to do this to remind people of the history and heritage of Hey's Brewery and its contribution to Bradford life.

"I sought Malcolm's advice, and after some searching he found a brewer to take on the task – that is Darren Marks, head brewer of the Bingley Brewery."

Miss Hey said she was delighted that Bingley Brewery had agreed to take on the job.

Mr Toft said Hey's Gold would be made using Saaz Hops, which are named after a city now in the Czech Republic.

He said that when Joseph Hey and Co was still operating it had been very common for breweries to use continental hops.

Joseph Hey and Co had a reputation for producing high quality draught and bottled ales.

At the Brewers' Exhibition in 1920 the company won the Championship Gold Cup for Best Beer in Bottle.

Arthur Hey, a cousin of the son's of the company's original founder, became involved with managing the brewery.

He was a director of Bradford City Football Club when the club triumphed in the FA Cup final in 1911, and was chairman in 1929 when the club gained promotion to the second division of the Football League.

In the early 1920s his brewery formed a ladies football team to raise money for charity, and this was followed by a fundraising cricket team.

The business continued to run successfully after the Second World War, but ceased to be an independent company in 1966 when its shareholding was sold to Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd, of Halifax.

The Keighley pubs which will stock Hey's Gold will be the Airedale Heifer, in Sandbeds and The Willow Tree, in Riddlesden.

It will also be on offer at York CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival and at Halifax and Calderdale Beer & Cider Festival in Hebden Bridge.