PRODUCTION is underway at a North Yorkshire brewery's new site following a seven figure investment.

The Great Yorkshire Brewery, based in Cropton near Pickering, can now produce three times the volume of ale it churned out at its previous site.

Established in 1984 as Cropton Brewery, beer was originally brewed in the basement of the onsite pub, The New Inn.

The popularity of the beer saw the selling of cask ales spread out to local pubs in the Scarborough and Whitby areas, and the brewing eventually moved to a purpose-built building on site.

In 2010 the brewery re-branded to Great Yorkshire, when co-director Joanne Taylor came on board.

The new brewery is on the original Cropton site, somewhere that is very close to co-director Phil Lee. He said: "Cropton Brewery began in my family so it makes me feel proud to see the new building up-and-running, on the very same site it began. It’s come a long way."

Now, just over 20 years after the first brew, Great Yorkshire beer can be found across Yorkshire, with an increasing national demand too, and hopes for expansion in overseas markets.

Ms Taylor said: "We’ve already exported to several countries such as China and Japan, now with the new brewery we hope to see export to overseas markets soar."