Britain’s pubs and bars will be busy with Boxing Day drinkers enjoying a seasonal pint or two today. But how many will give a thought to the way the beer they’re enjoying arrived in the store room or cellar? In this festive programme, Vernon Harwood visits one of the last breweries in the country to continue the tradition of delivering beer by horse-drawn dray. Hook Norton Brewery in Oxfordshire owns a trio of magnificent Shire horses named Brigadier, Balmoral and Cromwell who live in stables on site and graze the fields nearby. They have become local celebrities and crowds of spectators gather every time they appear in public to pull the brewery dray, loaded with kegs of ale, through the winding village lanes.

At the start of the 20th century Shire horses were a common sight in the British countryside as well as in our towns and cities. Around a million Shires worked the fields as plough horses, pulled canal barges and omnibuses, transported goods and carried passengers for the railway companies, among many other tasks. But those days are long gone and it’s almost impossible to see heavy horses genuinely employed to do a job of work today. The Shire Horse Society says only 250 foals are born each year which puts the breed firmly at risk of extinction. So why is the brewery so passionate about keeping its Shires, who looks after the animals and what are the advantages of delivering a horse-powered pint?

Produced and presented by Vernon Harwood.