BLESSING bread and wine is nothing unusual for a priest – but one Bolton vicar is carrying out the tradition using beer.

Bolton-born Father Lee Taylor, who now serves as an associate vicar in Croydon, London, will hark back to the tradition often used in monasteries across Europe in the medieval period.

A mass was held at Croydon last night for Mark and Lesley Knight, the licensees of the Dog and Bull pub in the town, before Father Taylor blessed the beer barrels in the cellar as well as the beer pumps.

Father Taylor says that monasteries, which often houses breweries, often blessed items used on a regular basis including cheese, animals, fishing boats and tools as well as beer.

In addition, August 1 marks the feast of Lammastide, or loaf-mass, which gives thanks for the first fruits of the wheat harvest, including oatmeal, rye and wheat, which are grains used as a complement to barley in the brewing process.

Father Taylor, a former pupil at Mount St Josephs in Farnworth who moved south in 2002, said: "It is quite a quirky and fun thing to be doing. But it’s also a custom which goes back hundreds of years and something which I don’t think has been done in this country for a very long time.

"The church has a long tradition of blessing people, places, events and objects. When a blessing is given, we praise God for His goodness that is revealed through a person or object; we thank Him for its use and for the pleasure that it brings to us.

"Before the beer blessing on Thursday, a mass will be offered beforehand at Croydon minster for The Dog and Bull’s licensees, Mark and Lesley Knight, and from there a small procession will make its way to the pub where I will bless the beer.

"We will all enjoy fellowship over a pint afterwards. I think it’s a great way of connecting the church to the local community."