BEER is to be brewed in Abingdon for the first time since the Morland brewery closed a decade ago.

A new brewery, Loose Cannon, is set to pour its first pints in May.

When it open, it will be the first time since 2000 that a town once famous for its beer can point to its own brewery.

Brewer Will Laithwaite, 28, whose family run the Laithwaites wine business, said he had been preparing for six years to set up his own microbrewery, choosing to open it in Abingdon because of its brewing history.

He said: “Abingdon is a town which has had its brewing tradition taken away. Morland was a famous old brewery, and I have always been a big fan of Old Speckled Hen.

“Back then, every town would have its own brewery, but we have lost a lot of that heritage. When you open a new brewery like this, people in the community begin to take a bit of ownership of it. If they go to visit friends, they can take a bottle of beer with them and say that it is from their home town.”

The brewery, in an industrial unit in Suffolk Way, is just down the road from where Morland used to brew in Ock Street.

Workmen are installing the plumbing for the new plant, which will be able to produce more than 20,000 pints a week.

Mr Laithwaite will then carry out a series of trial brews, using the new equipment to perfect a new 4.1 per cent bitter for the town, provisionally named Abingdon Bridge.

He wants to sell his draught beer in Oxfordshire pubs, as well as bottling brews for sale in off- licences, specialist shops and at the brewery.

He said: “I really want to focus on the shop and start getting local people coming in to see the brewery in action and buy beer.”

Local Campaign for Real Ale activist Johanne Green said: “It will be really good to have something like that in our town. It is exciting that new brewers still want to set up breweries all around the country.

“It is very good that brewing has survived in Abingdon and, hopefully, we can expect something really good from Loose Cannon.”

Mr Laithwaite, from Henley, served a three-year apprenticeship at Rebellion Brewery, Marlow, before setting up his new business with schoolfriend Caleb Taylor, 27. The new brewery is named after his rugby nickname.

His parents, Tony and Barbara Laithwaite, run the UK’s biggest mail order wine company, while brother Henry, 29, is a winemaker in Bordeaux.

Mr Laithwaite said: “All the family is in wine, but I have always been a big beer fan.”