A Cumbrian brewery is continuing to expand by launching its own bar.

Bowness Bay Brewing will officially open its new bar named The Barrel House, on Friday.

Based at Bowness Bay’s Castle Mills brewery in Kendal, it is part of the company's wider plans to establish the brewery as a tourist destination and entertainment venue.

Owner Richard Husbands said: “From the outset we’ve always wanted the brewery to be something more than just a production site for good quality beers.

"We wanted it to be an experience where people can see the ingredients coming in, learning how the beer is made from our team and then sampling them in our own bar.

“In the not too distant future we’ll be hosting brewery tours and taking private parties round our facility.

"The Barrel House will be an important part of that, enabling us to offer the Bowness Bay experience we want people to sample.”

The Barrel House boasts unique features created by specialist Cumbrian carpenter, Ffion Harris of To the Root.

The bar is made from a 209-year-old piece of oak felled in Bowness Bay, Windermere, and oak from eight whisky casks.

Ffion has also created a decorative wooden tap wall and artisan flooring from reclaimed wood.

The tables were made by Ellie Barden of Grace Forge, who is also Bowness Bay’s part-time delivery driver.

Richard added: “At a time when approximately 20 pubs a week are closing, it’s great to buck the trend.

"Customers are wanting more from bars now – not just a place to sit and have a few drinks but somewhere that offers an experience.

"The Barrel House and other plans we have for the brewery’s estate will do that – we want to be known as a place that brews great beers, as a tourist destination and festival venue and an enterprise that contributes to the regional economy.”

Earlier this year the brewery announced it had used £60,000 of Funding from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development to invest in six state-of-the-art 5000 litre fermenters to increase capacity by four-fold. The funding also allowed it to acquire a fully automatic keg machine, to help increase output to over 1000 kegs per month, and new sterile filter equipment.