Real ale pub in Bristol to become ‘high end tap room’ and restaurant

A real ale pub in Whiteladies Road is being turned into a “high end tap room” and restaurant.

The Penny, which is currently being refurbished, will reopen as the Whitmore Tap when the makeover is complete.

New owner Butcombe Brewery won changes to the pub’s licence to enable the transformation on Thursday, March 25.

The Whitmore Tap will offer “award-winning food” to customers and will have new booth seating on the ground floor and a new restaurant and meeting room on the second floor, a licensing meeting heard.

It will also have a cordoned off patio area just outside the front entrance, with tables and chairs for customer use until 10pm.

Penny Dobson, from Hampton Park And Cotham Hill Community Group, welcomed the brewery to the area and invited the owner to join the group.

But the display of goodwill, rarely seen at licensing hearings, came only after several concerns raised by police, the community group, two residents and a ward councillor had been resolved, at least partly.

The concerns were chiefly about noise, with Dobson saying residents “suffer enormously”.

The pub agreed to a raft of measures addressing noise, and promised to do everything possible, including installing signs, barriers and CCTV monitors, to ensure people stay within the patio area and remain seated while drinking outside.

The Penny will soon be transformed. Photo: Martin Booth

Jayson Perfect from the Liberation Group, which owns the brewery, said the pub would not be a “large, loud music” venue and was not looking to “pile a whole bunch of people in the bar” or “pile people out either side of our business, standing in the street and drinking”.

“This is a premium pub offer which should have background music, but (will not be) a shouting drinking, hooligan environment, by any account,” he said.

Perfect also pledged to tackle the unsightly “flotilla” of bins on Whiteladies Road by working with other local businesses to find an alternative space for them all.

He made the pledge after some residents asked that they were moved, and committee member councillor Harriet Clough said that, as a wheelchair user, bins on the pavement were a “pain”.

Patrick Robson, representing the brewery, said the licence came with a set of “robust” conditions that would address residents’ concerns.

The pub must keep music volume to a minimum, but if it causes a problem for neighbours, it will put in place a noise management plan.

It has also promised not to empty any bottles into its outdoor bins after 10.30pm or before 7.30am.

All beer glasses will be made of safety glass, but the pub will not serve wine and champagne in “plastic flutes” as this would not be “in keeping” with the “high end” atmosphere, Robson said.

Amanda Cameron is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.

Main photo: Martin Booth

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