AN independent brewery has turned its site into a community hub to offer provisions for elderly villagers.

Andy Herrington, founder of Ainsty Ales Brewery in Acaster Malbis, said the village had no shops or local amenities and the vast majority of residents were over 60 and did not want to leave their homes.

After trying to attract support from a number of large retailers, Andy has purchased household items from a wholesaler and is opening a weekly ‘community drive-thru’ on Thursdays.

This will be solely for people in the village over the age of 65, with the first event due to take place on Thursday, April 9, from 10am to 12pm.

Andy is also holding a ‘drive-thru’ from 12pm to 3pm, which is open to all, when he will be selling Ainsty Ales products following the success of his first one last week.

He said that inaugural event had attracted a steady flow of customers for the whole three hours, and helped to generate a small amount of cash for the business.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the local support shown to Ainsty Ales by York, especially the areas closest to the brewery,” said Andy.

“The business was directly affected as soon as the public were advised to stay away from pubs. It was at that moment that I decided to offer a fortnightly local delivery service and open a weekly drive-thru.

“The village of Acaster Malbis where the brewery is located has a very elderly population, many of whom support the brewery taproom every Friday, so creating a Community Drive-Thru was a very easy decision to make, especially with the village having no amenities whatsoever just now and many residents scared to leave the village.”