UK brewery delivers beer by Shire horse during lockdown

A brewery in the UK has gone back to basics to keep locals supplied with beer and boost morale.

(Photo: Samuel Smith’s Brewery)

Samuel Smith’s, Yorkshire’s oldest brewery, has set up a Shire horse home delivery service for the residents of Tadcaster, north Yorkshire.

The service, which was announced on Tuesday (14 April) via the brewer’s social media profiles, will provide locals with cases of beer, cider, wine, snacks and “even potatoes” to customers doors while pubs are shut.

The horses are already long-standing employees, and are usually brought in to help the brewery team deliver casks in and around Tadcaster, where Samuel Smith’s stables are located.

Simon Crook, the brewer’s stable manager, told the Guardian that the new service makes people’s lives “a bit happier, more smilier.”

“The children are absolutely loving it because they’ve got nothing to do now. They come out when they hear us, they’re waving but keeping their distance.”

Customers are being asked to keep two meters away form the cart during a delivery, in accordance with the government’s lockdown guidelines.

Samuel Smith’s initiative has already brightened up life in Tadcaster. One customer, who received a delivery last week, said her two children “absolutely loved the horses delivering to us, especially as we see the horses on our walk to school most days but due to the lock down we haven’t seen them for a while.

“It made our day.”