A brewery is looking to open a new bar in Caerphilly town centre, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
A licence application by Brew Monster for the sale of alcohol and playing of recorded music at the new bar is currently under consideration by Caerphilly County Borough Council.
The application would allow alcohol sales and the playing of music between 12pm to 11pm on every day of the week, with Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve having extended hours until 2am.
If approved, Brew Monster will open its fourth bar on Lon y Twyn, near the Twyn School, subject to planning permission.
The Cwmbran-based brewery has had a busy year. They opened up their first bar at the end of 2019 in the centre of Cardiff before taking over The Atig Micropub in Llantwit Major early this year.
Alongside his expansion plans for Caerphilly, the company’s managing director Glenn White, is also focusing on the Mermaid Quay Taphouse in Cardiff Bay, which will open for the first time later this week.
Mr White described the past year as “quite a rollercoaster.”
He said: “We went into it all learning as we went along.
“We are in really unprecedented times. Luckily we were already working on Cardiff Bay before lockdown happened.”
Unlike a lot of other companies, Brew Monster hasn’t been selling during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We still think we have a good strategy,” Mr White said.
“We have spent lockdown focusing on when things get back to normal and making sure we are in the best possible situation.
“We are using this time to accelerate. We haven’t brewed or sold for a few months.”
Instead Mr White has been allowing everything to catch-up given they have expanded so quickly in such a short space of time.
A second peak, however, is a concern, Mr White said.
“We are trusting the local authorities. A second peak would hurt us and could come back to bite us.”
Barring any second wave of coronavirus, Mr White is hoping to have the new bar up and running by Christmas.
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Why bring a licensed premises into what is a residential area? Nor any consideration or discussion with residents by anyone (owner or council) about change of use of premises to a microbrewery onsite.
Near a school ? – this is not a good location and cannot be allowed.
Can’t wait for this to open.
I like the vibe in a brewery type place. Not so ‘fighty’ and boozey, it really is more about enjoying the drink than getting trashed. Not keen on beer but these places always tend to also do decent still cider. My other half is keen.
Went to the brewmonster in Cardiff yesterday, they were saying that two petitions were set up. One against and one for. The one ‘for’ won by a landslide apparently ? not sure why people are scared of it. Some people just can’t stand change.