A Reform character

The owner of North Devon’s longest standing brewery is about to take on a new challenge, as CATHERINE COURTENAY discovers

- CATHERINE COURTENAY

One evening, over 20 years ago, Tim Webster was in his local pub, chatting to the landlord when the two hatched a plan to set up a brewery.

Fuelled by a few pints, the idea began to grow. The pub was the Reform Inn at Pilton on the edge of Barnstaple. The pub’s then landlord, Mike Kilminster, agreed to buy the beer from Tim, who would make it on the premises.

The first beer, initially called Hard Labour, was launched on 26 September 1996. Barum Original best bitter is still the brewery’s most popular, although many more special editions have been produced over the subsequent years. Another favourite is Breakfast, a premium bitter, and Pilton Hopster, a light and hoppy, premium golden ale.

“It started as a hobby really,” says Tim. “We built a dreadful lean-to off the back of the pub and I’d be brewing at the weekends and evenings. The lean-to is still dreadful and leaky today!”

At the time Tim was working for an IT company in Barnstaple, but he soon gave up his job to work full-time on the brewery.

Barum Brewery has since gone on to become North Devon’s longest standing brewery and it’s about to mark another milestone, with Tim taking over as landlord of the Reform.