Cumbria’s oldest independent brewery is up for sale.

The popular Yates Brewery, based in Westnewton, near Wigton, has been put on the market with a price tag of £850,000.

Yates Brewery has been in operation for almost 30 years, being founded in 1986 before being taken over in 1998 by current owners Graeme and Caroline Baxter who previously owned High Force Hotel & Brewery in County Durham

The brewery is featured on business marketplace www.daltonsbusiness.com where it is described as an ‘independent brewery business’ located in a ‘rural location in north west Cumbria’.

The name of the brewery is not included in the advert, but its location and ownership history identify it as Yates.

The listing also includes ‘a detached 6-bed, 2-storey Cumbrian longhouse, with approximately 5 acres of land’.

Yates has won a number of awards locally and nationally throughout its 30 year history, and brews a wide range of niche and mainstream beers and ales, such as the ‘Yates Green Hop’, made from hops planted on-site by original owner Peter Yates, who was also head brewer at Jennings in Cockermouth.

In 2006 a new brewhouse was commissioned which increased production to 48 barrels per week and a new reedbed system for wastewater was built.

Now the brewery is being listed on the market with an asking price of £850,000, and an annual turnover of £365,000.

A spokesperson for the brewery declined to comment on the sale.