'Thick Necks' brew going down a treat in Padiham (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

'Thick Necks' brew going down a treat in Padiham

11:38am Friday 4th January 2013 in News

A NEW ale named ‘Thick Necks’ is going down a treat with drinkers in Padiham.

Impressive sales have been recorded of Thwaites’ 3.6% Thick Neck at Molly Rigby’s in Mill Street.

But whether it’s an affinity with the town’s traditional nickname - or the £1.80 price tag, is surely debatable.

Landlord Tom Large was given the choice of monikers for the Thwaites’ bitter by the Blackburn brewer after the pub chain approached a number of pubs in the Burnley and Padiham area.

And in honour of the venue, named after his mother, and the pet name for Padihamers, the tipple was christened.

Tom said: “I know the term Thick Necks was something to do with the water around here - it used to give people thick necks.

“It’s just like people in Burnley being called ‘water walkers’ because they were surrounded by rivers.

“It was Thwaites who approached me with the beer and they said that we could put any name we wanted on it so here it is.

“It’s probably not the name of it which has made it so popular with our members though but the price!”

The River Calder has always been central to Padiham’s fortunes, dating back to the Industrial Revolution.

Telegraph columnist Ron Freethy says that the term ‘Thick Necks’ refers to the fact that there used to be a lack of iodine in drinking water.

Before the later addition of iodine in table salt, a lack of the element would cause the thyroid gland to swell, hence a ‘thick neck’.