The one thing Bank Top Brewery owner Dave Sweeney would like more than anything else is . . . his own pub.

Not any old pub, but one where he could showcase Bank Top’s unique range of beers as well as those produced by other micro-breweries.

He remains on the lookout for an appropriate establishment, but it’s difficult to discover the best venue in the right place even with the number of pubs currently on the market.

But despite the credit crunch and the general economic downturn that has affected so many licensees, Bolton’s only brewery is thriving.

Dave said: “Last year we had our best year ever and this year so far we look as though we will come close to matching it.

“If we buy a pub, then it would be a good showcase for Bank Top beers as well as those from other micro-brewers in the area. I would buy a pub in the right place at the right price, and then we could do beer swaps with other breweries.

“I would like to increase sales so that we could better utilise the brewery capacity we have — currently, we are working at about 65 per cent capacity. I want to widen the market area.”

Dave is fearful for the future of pubs given the harsh trading conditions, but still believes cask beers have a good future.

He said: “The beauty of cask ales is that they have individual tastes and the beers from micro-breweries like Bank Top have become part of the heritage of the towns where they are situated. And good pubs selling real beer are part of this country’s rich heritage.

“People associate the brewery with Bolton and Bolton with Bank Top Brewery. That’s good for both the town and us.

“Cask beers are part of the community and drinkers of real ales foster community spirit by bringing people together at events like beer festivals.”

Dave started working at Bank Top Brewery in 1999, when John Feeney set up the brewery in Back Lane, near the Howcroft Inn, after being made redundant from his engineering job at Walmsley’s in Crompton Way.

He said: “I was working casually, part-time as a labourer and driver — all the unskilled jobs that John didn’t have time to do and that freed him up to go out drumming up business.”

When the brewery expanded, Dave became full-time by 2000 and in 2004 he was made a co-director and has gradually bought out John since then.

John is retiring at the age of 60 in November and Dave now has all the shares and is full owner.

Dave, who lives in Sharples with his wife Angela and son Benjamin, aged 17, has learned about the brewing process on the job, but he plans to get a formal qualification in brewing — when he has time.