A film producer and her engineering husband have made an unusual career change and opened up a brewery.

Suzanne and Richard Green’s Dovecot Brewery in Denbigh was opened up by Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane on Thursday.

Dovecot Brewery currently makes four beers which are available in pubs locally.

While they haven’t given up their day jobs entirely just yet, Richard says they hope it’s only a matter of time.

Richard said: “It’s a big jump, it’s part time at the moment but it’ll be full time in the future if it takes off.

“Why a brewery? Well, I like beer. There’s been a fantastic explosion in small craft production of food and beverages as well as beer, and brewing is a field that suited my skills from my previous engineering career

“I started homebrewing with various degrees of success about 20 years ago, and I’ve learnt a lot over the years.

“It’s quite time consuming fitting it all in, we’ve had a big six months since we started making ale in June,

“We had one cask at the beer festival - it was a bit late to get any more than that as they planned ahead but the reaction was pretty good I believe, although I’ve never been one to blow my own trumpet.”

Suzanne has several film credits to her name as a producer and scriptwriter and has also witten novels whilst Richard works on engineering projects around North Wales.

Richard continued: “The people in Denbighshire have always been responsive to supporting local businesses. The food and beer festivals and ale trails that abound in Denbigh and the Vale of Clwyd , Flintshire and Conwy have also opened people up to all the flavours in craft ale as apposed to the more bland nature of mass produced beer.

“Organisations like the Clwydian Food Trail also helps promote the products supplied locally by a range of passionate producers and if you look at the supermarket shelves, the space given to craft beers has tripled and this continues to grow,

“It is a travesty what’s happening in the pub industry with local pubs closing at a dramatic rate but this trend is being bucked by the independent pubs that can buy in great craft beers from small independent breweries, they know that being able to offer a constantly changing range of beers keeps their customers happy and their businesses as well as local communities thrive.

“We do four core beers, Dove dark is a dark ruby ale, Dove Ale is a chestnut coloured session ale, our most popular beers are Dove From Above an antique gold IPA and Dove Down Under a light amber new world craft ale, we are also producing seasonal beers, the autumn one is called Wood Pigeon with smoked oak flavours. We’re also just about to launch our Christmas special called Turtle Dove.

“We currently supply 26 outlets in North Wales, the North West and Midlands. Locally we supply the Dinorben Arms, Bodfari, Y Goron Fach, Denbigh, The Swan, St Asaph, The Kinmel Arms, Llandyrnog and we have a tap room at the brewery that is open three evenings a week from 5 to 7pm where people can come and taste it.”