How the interior of the Taphouse Brewpub will look
A contemporary brewpub has been announced as the latest destination venue in Hull’s regenerated urban village.
The Taphouse Brewpub will combine a working brewery with a high-quality bar offering an ever-changing choice of more than 30 draught real ales, craft lagers and ciders, as well as an extensive range of bottled and canned beers, quality wines and artisan spirits.
The bar and brewery is the latest investment in the £80m transformation of the waterfront Fruit Market area, which is creating one of the most vibrant and fastest-growing communities in the North.
The venue will stage a series of drinks festivals and also bring an innovative approach to its food offering. During the week the menu will focus on platters, while, at the weekend, street food operators will bring their own tastes to the venue’s kitchen.
The Taphouse Brewpub will also host a regular entertainment programme, featuring music and spoken word performances, with an emphasis on supporting local artists and contributing to the Fruit Market’s unique vibe as the cultural hub of the UK’s current City of Culture.
A CGI of the venue’s brewery
The venue is inspired by destination brewpubs in major UK cities and abroad, such as Howling Hops and The Bohemia in London, The Gas Works Brew Bar in Manchester, and Warpigs brewpub in Copenhagen.
The new business has grown out of one of the waterside community’s pioneering ventures, the Yorkshire Brewing Company microbrewery, which has been hand-crafting quality beers in Humber Street, in the heart of the Fruit Market, for more than six years.
Yorkshire Brewing Company owner, Guy Falkingham, has joined forces with local licensee Lee Kirman to develop the Taphouse Brewpub concept, and the pair are investing more than £150,000 to turn their exciting vision into reality.
Work is well under way transforming Yorkshire Brewing Company’s premises in Humber Street to create the new venue, and breathe new life into yet another of the Fruit Market’s former fruit and veg warehouses.
The Taphouse Brewpub will have a stripped-back industrial look and feel, with original features conserved, revealed and restored, including exposed beams. The venue is due to open in December, creating up to 12 full- and part-time jobs.
‘Long-held ambition’
Guy, who has extensive experience of brewing and festival and events organisation, said: “It’s been a long-held ambition to create a venue like this, and I’ve been talking with Lee about it for more than a year. Now it’s all coming together.
“People love being where products they enjoy are made. Our customers will be able to come here and taste the beer that we’ve brewed, while watching the brewers at work, in a relaxed, welcoming environment. It will be an all-round, authentic experience.
“They’ll also have the opportunity to taste beers and other drinks that they don’t usually have access to, because we’ll bring in artisan drinks from far and wide.”
Lee co-owns the successful Minerva pub and Humber Street Distillery Co gin bar in the Fruit Market, with his partner Charlotte Bailey, and brings a wealth of experience running licensed premises to the partnership.
He said: “My expertise is on the retail side and Guy’s is in brewing, so we think it works really well to bring the two together. We’re already part of the Fruit Market community, so we know how special it is and we want to create a place that reflects its unique character and complements the other venues in the area.
“We’re creating this from scratch and we believe this venue, and its location, will mean there will be nowhere quite like it in the North of England.”
Left to right, Taphouse Brewpub owners Guy Falkingham and Lee Kirman with developer Wykeland Beal’s Tom Watson, outside what will be the latest destination venue in Hull’s ever-evolving Fruit Market urban village
