A NORTH Yorkshire brewery has reopened some of its facilities after closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Black Sheep Brewery, based in Masham, has opened the doors to its visitor centre and restaurant, following the Government’s easing of lockdown restrictions.

The recently renovated Black Sheep Tap & Kitchen in Chapel Allerton also reopened on the same day, with both venues having several safety measures in place.

These include regular cleaning of shared facilities, table service with strict social distancing, and also encouraging contactless payments as much as possible.

Charlene Lyons, chief executive of Black Sheep Brewery, said: “We have been gearing up for reopening for some time and we can’t wait to serve our first pints at the Visitor Centre and The Tap & Kitchen.

“We have put all required social distancing and hygiene measures in place in each venue so our customers can be confident that they are in a safe environment when they come back to enjoy their favourite Black Sheep food and drink.

“We hope to open our other pubs soon and we will use the Visitor Centre and Tap & Kitchen to benchmark our new ways of working before we apply them to our smaller venues, to ensure the safety of our team and our customers.”

Although Brewery tours will not be available in the short term, the multi-award-winning Visitor Centre and restaurant will be open Wednesday to Saturday between noon and 8pm, and Sunday between noon and 4pm.

They will be serving a new range of homemade food, which includes stone baked pizzas following the installation of two pizza ovens during lockdown.

Customers at both venues will be able to order via a new online app, which the brewery is rolling out to limit close contact.