Ashover Brew Co is launching a new tap room in Matlock, with The Castle opening its doors to customers on Friday, October 30.
The Derbyshire Times was invited to visit the venue and learn more about the brewery’s plans – which include breathing new life into an empty Clay Cross pub– and these photos offer a glimpse inside Matlock’s latest bar.
9. Search for location near the brewery
Andy said: “The actual brewery is based in Clay Cross now. It was originally based in Ashover, but it outgrew the Ashover location long before we bought it. The brewery as it stands just hasn’t had the room for a tap room at the factory location where we’re brewing, so we wanted to look for a pub in the area that can act as a tap room and give us that exposure and locality.” Photo: Brian Eyre
10. New lease of life for empty pub
Andy said: “We’re taking on a pub called the Gardeners at Clay Cross - it’s been there for over 100 years but has been closed down for a few years. We saw it as a good way to re-establish a really historic bar in the area, and it’s in the area where they’ve done a lot of work on pedestrianising Market Street. It’s in a place which is part of the regeneration of Clay Cross and we were keen to be a part of that really.” Photo: Brian Eyre
11. Plans for Clay Cross venue
Andy added: “We’re hoping to open in Clay Cross at some point towards the end of November, so we can open with enough time for some of the Christmas trade at least. We’ll be giving the place some redecoration and a bit of a rebranding of the place - it should be fairly quick from our point of view to turn it around. It would be great to have people visiting us either at Matlock this weekend or at our Derby bar.” Photo: Brian Eyre