SEVEN school friends have returned to their roots to open a new microbrewery in Kendal.

Gan Yam Brew Co launched its website on Monday and production is officially underway at the site.

Founders Christopher Gibbons, Christopher Talbot, Jonathan Le Mare, Jonathan Rigg, Nicolas Graves, William Burgess and William Wilkinson all attended the Queen Katherine School together and the brewery is just across the road on Shap Road Industrial Estate.

The friends began brewing beer in 2017 in London - initially from a stove top before moving to a 100-litre pilot kit to develop their recipes.

But they always planned on ‘gan yam’ (going home in Cumbrian dialect) to their hometown.

With the friends dotted across the country, operations will be manned by Christopher Talbot and Jonathan Le Mare full time.

“Setting up a brewery in Kendal had always felt like a pipe dream, our ambition, but never very realistic,” they said.

“A few things aligned last year and it suddenly made sense.

“You have to take these opportunities when they come up.

“We had a lot of fun growing up in Kendal in the pubs and bars in town.

“Hopefully we can now be part of a really exciting scene for lots of other Kendalians and visitors. Kendal has become a real artisan town with a great beer scene and we want to get involved.

“We’ve got a core range that we’ve been developing over the last five years.

“Over those years we’ve been slowly refining those recipes and now we have the opportunity to do that on a bigger scale.”

In Cumbria: RANGE: Gan Yam's range of beers

The ganyambrew.co.uk/shop/ is now open and currently has four beers available in 440ml can as well as kegs and casks for wholesale and the brewers have promised lots of exciting announcements to come.