Victory for Burton's national brewing centre campaigners
Real ale enthusiasts are celebrating across the UK following the decision of US brewer Molson Coors to support a national brewing museum - despite pulling the plug last year.
The company's UK wing had already changed the Bass Museum in Burton into the Coors Visitor Centre when the doors were finally shut last summer, despite strong opposition from CAMRA, local politicians and Burton Civic Society & Chamber of Commerce.
But opponents refused to give up the fight and CAMRA announced last week that the new National Brewing Centre will retain key elements of the existing facilities to preserve the site's historic aspects.
Burton CAMRA spokesperson Nik Antona, said: "It's fantastic news that we will again have a brewing museum in this country, and a centre reflecting the brewing styles of the UK. This is something CAMRA has been campaigning strongly for over the past year.
"The plans for the Centre are very promising, and an official opening could be a real boost for the local Burton economy. As the capital of British brewing, this is exactly what the town deserves.
"This is especially promising for the White Shield Brewery, which is based on site. Having won CAMRA awards in the past, it will be great to see their quality recognised further in the public domain."
More information on the project can be found here.
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Toby Jugg - A former newspaper reporter, Steve Green now works as a freelance journalist and technical writer. He first joined the Campaign for Real Ale in the mid-1980s and currentlyproduces a regular column for Solihull CAMRA in the Solihull Times, under the pseudonym "Toby Jugg".
Let's not forget the part the museum's local paper - the Burton Mail - played.
The Mail launched its Save Our Heritage campaign when Coors announced it was to close Coors Visitor Centre.
More than 5,500 people signed up to the campaign, and online around 2,100 protestors put their names to the fight to stop the closure.
Thanks to the Mail's campaign and pressure from Burton MP Janet Dean, the brewer agreed to keep the artefacts and contents of the museum intact until the end 2008 so a rescue package could be put together.