Beer brewed to help save Salford Lads Club goes on sale TODAY

A Greater Manchester brewery's limited edition beer - brewed to help save Salford Lads and Girls Club - will go on sale today (November 20).

Just 200 cans of SLC IPA will be available but it will also be sold as a keg at bars. The design on the can and tap, inspired by the club's doorway, was created by Salford University student Jess Eckersley, the granddaughter of Archie Swift MBE, who died last year aged 88, after being involved with the club for 76 years.

The beer has been created by Salford-basedSeven Brothers Brewery. One hundred cans will be sold via the firm's website, and the rest at the Lads Club.

The business, based in Daniel Adamson Road, Salford, is run by seven actual brothers, Guy, Keith, Luke, Dan, Nathan, Kit, and Greg McAvoy, who also have four sisters.

A year ago Jess designed the can for the brewery's Helles Lager and a new batch of that has been produced to help raise funds for the Lads Club. But she has now done the same for their latest creation which could become a major money spinner for the club.

Salford Lads Club is in financial crisis and needs to raise £250,000 by the end of November to avoid closure. The Manchester Evening News has sponsored a gofundme page to reach the target which is currently at £230,000.

Of the new beer the brewery says: "In the glass, this beer is a bright golden colour indicative of the flavours to come. On the nose we have a touch of resin and pine, making way for candied orange on the palette, and finished off with a balance of assertive bitterness and sweet caramel malt."

Bought via the brewery the beer will cost £15 a can with £10 per can going to the Lads Club. A special edition postcard and enamelled SLC badge will be given out with each IPA purchased from Seven Bro7hers.

The other 100 cans will be sold in numbered limited edition presentation packs at Salford Lads Club shop and through the Club webshop from today.

Each presentation pack will contain a can, a Jess Eckersley designed beer mat and a limited edition numbered postcard. The 100 cans that will go into the £20 presentation pack have been donated to the Club by Seven Bro7hers; with all proceeds of the sales going to the Club’s current Campaign. Also a £10 donation for every keg sold will be made to the club.

Those that buy an SLC IPA presentation pack at the Club on November 23 and 24, will be entered into a prize raffle to win a collection of music memorabilia gifted to the Club by Bittersweet Home which includes an Oasis handwritten lyric print for Turn Up The Sun, a bundle of signed Manchester records including New Order, Oasis, Courteeners and The Smiths too.

Brother Kit McAvoy, Head of Export at the brewery, said: We are thrilled to be once again supporting the incredible charity work of Salford Lads Club with a second special beer we’ve crafted in their honour.

"This project is close to our hearts, with myself being a previous member of the club, alongside our dad Eric. We’re proud to pledge a significant donation to the charity with every beer sold. Their dedication to supporting young people and our community resonates deeply with our values.

"This collaboration is even more special, as we are working again with the talented Jess Eckersley to design the can. Her unique artistic vision perfectly captured the essence of this project."

Jess won Graphic Student of the Year this summer for her work at Pendleton College which included the design of the Salford Lads Club Helles Lager and three other can designs inspired by the Lads Club. She gained a grade A in her A-level. Now she is studying a degree in graphic design at the University of Salford.

"My grandfather would have loved me designing the artwork for these beers and would have laughed his head off. He would have loved to have seen it all and the collaboration with Seven Brothers and would have treasured a can of the new beer, probably keeping it in his shed. This time it is a bigger project as the beer will be sold in pubs as well as the cans being available from the brewery and at the Lads Club."

Archie was born just 30 yards from the club on what was then Huddart Street and is now Huddart Close. He joined the club in 1946 aged 12. It was a life changing event for Archie, one of eight children brought up by his father when his mother died. He attended his first Salford Lads Club camp in 1946 and his final camp in 2010.

Louise Adams, Salford Lads and Girls Club Trustee and Lead Volunteer for Events said: “This big weekend at the club will hopefully get us past the target of £250k and with launching the SLC IPA beer in keg and limited edition can with our friends Seven Bro7hers, coupled with one of our very own young volunteer creating the artwork is fantastic. Jess has done brilliantly and it is what this club is all about, youngsters getting opportunities through the club's work, it makes all us volunteers so proud, please come and join us at the club for a swift half of the SLC IPA beer this weekend, to hopefully celebrate."

The Lads Club's very foundation came from links with a brewery. James Grimble Groves and his brother William Grimble Groves, who were partners in the Groves Whitnall Brewery in nearby Regent Road, founded the club over 120 years ago. They stumped up £10,000 - the equivalent of £1.5m today - for it to open in 1903.

James, as well as being chairman and managing director of the brewery, also served as an MP for Salford South constituency. His uncle, William Grimble Groves was active in public service for much of his life. He was a councillor in Salford from 1883 to 1895 and a Justice of the Peace there from 1892 to 1910

The bars where the beer will be on sale are: Bar 59 in Ashton-in-Makerfield; Joule in Salford; Bollington Brewing Company, Brook Mill, Macclesfield; The Old Post Office Ale House, Rochdale; Beer Heroes, Chester; Egerton Arms, Salford; Monton Tap, Eccles; Casked Ramsbottom; Casked Rawtenstall; The Longford Tap, Stretford; Kings Arms, Salford; Handle Bar, Wilmslow Road, Manchester; Wayfarer, Northern Quarter, Manchester; Motley's, Deansgate, Manchester; Oats and Honey, Monton; and Monton Tap. All Seven Brothers bars will also sell the brew.