On the map: Carlisle

This may, indeed, be something to do with the unique history of beer here. In 1915, a year into World War One, the British government was concerned by falling productivity at nearby HM Gretna, the country’s largest munitions factory. Workers were too often turning up worse for booze, reports suggested. “We are fighting Germany, Austria and drink,” prime minister David Lloyd George declared.

And so, that year, the so-called Carlisle Experiment was initiated.

The government closed 53 of the city’s 118 pubs and nationalised the rest. At these venues, the beer was lower in alcohol and could often only be ordered alongside food. They closed earlier. And, crucially, it seems, they made so much money for the state, the system remained in place until 1971.

“Then, when the government sold all these pubs in the seventies, they were bought on mass by the big pub companies,” says Fergus. “It’s been difficult for independents to get a foothold ever since.”

Which may be one reason, so the hypothesis goes, why a real hunger for something fresh has emerged over the last decade or so. “We’re sort of tapping into that,” muses Fergus. “I think we’ve struck a chord with people.”

The brewery and bar is based in a Grade II listed building that leans against the city’s Roman walls. It was once a legendary nightclub called Twisted Wheel. “We’ve had a lot of people coming in saying ‘this is where I met my wife’ or ‘that’s the side-door I got thrown out of,’” notes Fergus.

For now, he and Joe want to create new legends. Their beers — like the Express Yourself West Coaster and the Texas Sun hazy —will surely help them do that.

Talking of delicious beers and Grade II listed buildings, though: the Carlisle Brewing Company.

This gem was opened 13 years ago by Alison and Alain Davis. They run the historic Spinners Arms in the village of Cummersdale, a 40-minute riverside walk from the city centre, and only started brewing initially to boost their own ale offering.

“But pretty quickly we had other pubs asking if they could put some on too,” says Alison.

The result? They moved the brewery to the city’s Kingstown Broadside industrial estate, upped production and started selling to boozers across Cumbria. Their rich Carlisle Nut Brown and easy-drinking Carlisle Bitter are particular flavour-favourites. With a nod to local history, one of their creations – a 5.6% hazy pale – is called The Carlisle Experiment.

Local history is also enmeshed in the output of the nearby Great Corby Brewhouse, with its Lakeland Summit recalling the ancient landscape here. “We’re proud of where we’re from,” says head brewer Andrew Hammond-Whiteley. Great Corby itself was set up in 2009 by the late Lord Ballyedmond who bought the 13th century Corby Castle and decided the property should have an on-site brewery.

Shortly after the peer died in 2014, the business was bought by local entrepreneur David Cornhill and moved to its current site in the village. In a touch of synchronicity, the head brewer at the time now works at West Walls, which brings us back to Fergus and his scaffold board bar. “We’ve been here 18 months now and we’re still getting new regulars,” he says. “It feels like a real community is being built here.”