THE York pub that became the first in modern times to add its own brewery has closed suddenly.

The Junction, in Leeman Road, shut on Sunday night, following slow trade and the departure of the in-house brewer David Kerr, who has joined a brewery in Dorset. The pub’s future is now uncertain but the brewery will be moved to The Tap and Spile pub in Monkgate.

Departing manager Paul Grant, who has run The Junction with his wife Gill since Christmas 2010, said the pub had done well food-wise, including 96 Sunday lunches on its final day, but said the brewery, Urban Brewhouse, was key to the business model.

When the previous brewer left in autumn 2011, it took nine months to find a replacement and Mr Grant said the business could not afford to wait that long again.

Mr Grant said: “The pub has only just been keeping its head above water and without the brewery we lose an income stream and with no income from that we cannot continue.”

He said he was told the news last Wednesday and has been made redundant, but kept the pub open unpaid for several days, so he could pay suppliers.

Peter Pendlebury, who had the lease on the pub from Enterprise Inns and who also has several other pubs in York, including The Tap and Spile, said “I am done now with The Junction. It has been a nice little pub but unfortunately it is busy on Sundays but on no other day. It is my nicest pub by a mile but also my quietest pub by a mile.”

He said the brewery would soon move to The Tap and Spile and he hoped it would be successful there.

Mr Grant said The Junction had struggled due to its location, being seen as just too far from the city centre but failing to attract enough people from Leeman Road residents, who mostly used The Jubilee or The Leeman instead.

“We want to thank all our customers and suppliers from the past two years. We have been in this position before, but you always leave a little bit of yourself behnid when you leave a pub.

The brewery was added when the pub underwent a major refurbishment in 2010. It initially ran under the name The Junction Brewhouse but struggled until it was taken over by Mr Kerr and rebranded as Urban Brewhouse.

• Mr Grant is keen to contact a couple who had a wedding reception booking at the pub, but who appear to have left a wrong phone number. He asks them to contact the pub.