“Before the baker created the Eccles cake, it didn’t exist. I want you to do the same for Salford for beer. What is the beer of Salford?”
Jack Dixon, the tattooed, baseball cap-wearing ale aficionado at the centre of Lark Hill Brewery’s quest to define the taste of Salford, remembered the uncertainty that came with being asked to create a beer to represent the city in its centenary year.
While a stint working behind the bar at Broughton’s cooperatively owned Star Inn Pub, followed by years as a head brewer at Seven Brothers, meant he was well placed to fulfil his most important brief yet, the perfect pint did not pop into mind straight away.
“We originally thought to make a Vimto beer as it was created down the road, then moved to looking at foraged ingredients which would represent the area, but it all got a bit pretentious,” he explained. “And Salford is certainly not a pretentious place.”
Jack landed on a golden ale, a lighter, hoppier relative of bitter he made from US-style yeast and hops from New Zealand. It’s a drinkable craft beer entry point for younger drinkers who may typically favour lager. He also outlined that “it’s a classic beer that would have been drunk in Salford 100 years ago,” making it the perfect brew to commemorate the city’s anniversary year.
Next came the name: ‘Dreamed a Dream’ pays tribute to the classic folk anthem Dirty Old Town, written by famous Salford troubadour and campaigner Ewan MacColl, the familiar politically charged ballad that has been a soundtrack to celebrations in pubs, sports grounds and venues across the city for 77 years.
The special beer needed to stand out in a sea of vibrant craft beer cans with snazzy, colourful designs. A student project in the University’s graphic design course conjured an eye-catching wrap with depictions of buildings, neighbourhoods and landmarks from across the Salford city region, overlayed against the iconic pink colour used in signposts throughout the region.
“Dreamed a Dream is my favourite beer and I’m really proud of it,” Jack said, smiling in the sun-drenched beer garden outside Lark Hill Brewery’s base in the Old Fire Station bakery on the Crescent.
His boss, Mike Brown, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the University of Salford, which owns the Old Fire Station, was unable to resist stopping for a pint to sample the new golden ale.
For Mike, who masterminded the opening of the Old Fire Station and Lark Hill brewery in 2023, the artisan food and drink venue is the “best brewery and bakery in Greater Manchester” – and people should be shouting from the rooftops about it.
“We would love more and more people from Salford to go ‘that’s our local brewery, that’s our local bakery,’” he said, adding that the affiliation with the University of Salford may mean some people do not realise it operates much the same as the independent bakeries and microbreweries dotted across Salford and Manchester city centre, where a pint will set you back far more.
“Our house lager is £5 a pint,” said Jack. “Not to toot my own horn, but for the quality that you’re getting, you’ll struggle to find anything near that in town.”
Located in the heart of Salford Crescent, Lark Hill Brewery is well-positioned to capitalise on large-scale development plans in the area.
With approval granted for what is set to be Greater Manchester’s tallest skyscraper on land off Regent Retail Park, near Ordsall, bringing 3,300 new homes within walking distance, Mike is confident the upmarket brewery-bakery has the style and substance to tempt newcomers to “turn left” instead of “walking out the front door and turning towards Manchester.”
“Apartment blocks are going up like toffee,” he noted. “Unfortunately, the magnetic attraction of Manchester city centre pulls everyone immediately. We just hope people will turn here and realise that we are bloody brilliant.”
At a time when bougie bakeries and budget-busting breweries sprawl into increasingly gentrified parts of central Salford from Manchester, those behind Lark Hill hope to present it as both a university asset and a food and drink destination for ‘real’ Salfordians.
“We are focused on the community because we’re trying to use this as a cultural ground zero at the centre of regeneration in Salford and show how cool it could be.”
Mike added: “In the future, we hope to we can develop the business. We would like to expand both the brewery and the bakery because of the quality of our products and hope people recognise how good we are and ask to take our beer, take our cans, take our bread and croissants in the future.”
He explained that one day, the brewery tucked away inside the historic Grade II listed building could be housed in a new, expanded site if the business becomes more commercially successful.
“Before Lark Hill Brewery and the bakery moved into the building, water was running down the walls and the wood was rotting,” he recalled. “We had a duty of care to breathe life into the area and we have done that. Now there are big plans for the area and it’s great to be part of the community, housed in a place with a priceless story.”
While Salford drinkers will decide whether Jack’s beer truly is “the taste of Salford,” Lark Hill Brewery on the Crescent has bold plans to cement itself as the go-to place for food and drink in an area in a state of flux.
“I’m not a Salford native, but I have lived here for over 18 years and I hope to have done the people of the city proud with this beer.”
Dreamed a Dream golden ale costs £5.10 and is available on tap for a limited time only at Lark Hill Brewery inside The Old Fire Station bakery on Salford Crescent.
