An award-winning brewery is opening its new six-figure bar next week, and local heroes will be pulling the first pint.

The Fox Tap at Keswick Brewery will open its doors at a trade launch on Tuesday, October 15 at 1pm, and members of Keswick Mountain Rescue have been invited along for a lunchtime pint of the bar's special new brew.

The brewery's expansion has doubled its footprint, and boasts a new cold room, cask wash room and additional fermenting room, along with The Fox Tap's new 4% ABV beer, Fox Pale, which has been produced to celebrate their opening.

On top of Fox Pale, The Fox Tap's team of six staff will serve a range of beers, all brewed on site by the independent Keswick Brewing Co., along with Cumbrian-produced spirits and a selection of wines to up to 60 customers at a time.

Owner Sue Jefferson opened her business at The Old Brewery in 2006, and is excited to have opened The Fox Tap.

"We were struggling for space and having to turn people away, but The Fox Tap will enable us to serve drinks in a spacious bar while taking other customers on our popular brewery tours and shop visits," she said.

"Our beers are available at pubs, bars and restaurants across Cumbria and beyond, but it is a big step forward for us as an independent to open our own brewery tap, which will show we are here for locals as well as tourists."

The brewery, which has a fox as its logo, has won a string of awards at the Great British Beer Festival and from the Society of Independent Brewers, including a gold for its Dark Horse bottled ale.

Sue said: "We invited our local mountain rescue team to pull the first pint of Fox Pale because like Keswick Brewery, they are right at the heart of our community – and they share our thirst for the Lakes.

"All the beers we will be serving here at The Fox Tap are good for the environment too, as they will have travelled about 10 yards from where they were brewed!"

Keswick Brewery produces cask, keg and bottled beers, the most popular including Thirst Quencher and Keswick Gold.

The Fox Tap, which will have an adjoining beer garden, will be open 12 noon-5pm Tuesday to Saturday.

The brewery's shop is open 10.30am-5pm Monday to Saturday, and tours take place from Tuesday to Saturday.