Popular Continental-style bar The Fox has its own brewery

“I used to go to bars in cosmopolitan suburbs like Chorlton and I envisaged something similar in Shipley, where I live,” he says.

He held on to the idea and when he spotted an empty building in the town he snapped it up.

“The building had had various uses over the years including a curry house, a dress shop and a furniture store,” he says.

He and his wife Carole, a structural engineer, designed the interior to create space and add character. The renovation took six months.

“It’s fitted out in the style of a Continental café bar but with the feel of a traditional British pub,” says Chris. “We have beer signs and pictures of old Shipley on the walls.”

The Fox is designed in the style of a Continental cafe bar

Chris, who was previously a partner in Salamander Brewing Company - now Stubbee Brewery - installed a brewery in the building’s cellar to allow him to create his own brews.

The Fox - our Telegraph & Argus Pub of the Week - opened on September 23, 2013, named after the former Fox & Hounds in Commercial Street, Shipley, that was demolished for road widening.

Ten years on, The Fox is a popular haunt for locals and people from further afield. The on-site brewery, called Beespoke, produces ales that customers love.

The stylish interior

Popular beers include the permanent ale Plan Bee “a light coloured, hoppy session beer”, a German/Belgian fusion beer Fox Wit and Shipley Stout, along with a range of fruit beers and cloudy IPAs.

Chris is particularly fond of Shipley Stout. “It’s a really nice beer - we sell a lot, both in summer and winter.”

The bar is popular with regulars and visitors

Beespoke Brewery is in the cellar

The bar - which has a quirky mural featuring a fox and bee by local artists Pete Barker - also sells beers from other Yorkshire breweries including Mallinson’s in Huddersfield, Wensleydale Brewery and Abbeydale in Sheffield.

“We have six different beers on the bar at all times and a good selection of rums and whiskies too,” says Chris.

The bar, which has six staff, attracts many regulars who have been coming since it opened.

“We get a lot of passing trade too, as we are close to Shipley railway station. Customers come to us for a drink and get something to eat at one of the nearby restaurants or take-aways.”

At the back of the pub there’s a pretty beer garden. “We grow a lot of climbing plants out there and even grow our own hops which are used in the brewing process. It’s south-facing and gets the sun all day.”

There's a pretty garden at the rear

Live bands perform at The Fox on alternative Saturdays and there’s an open mic’ on Wednesdays.

To mark the pub’s tenth anniversary a singer Gerry Soulful will be performing on Saturday September 23, and there will be jazz the following day.

*The Fox, 41 Briggate, Shipley BD17 7BP