Brews & Eats

A new micro brewery venture could be opening its doors in Swindon’s Old Town - if planners give the scheme the go ahead.

The Hop Kettle Brewing Company Ltd, which already operates a brewery on the Hawksworth Industrial Estate, has submitted an application to transform the former Flower Basket premises at 51 Devizes Road, into ‘Tap and Brew’, a microbrewery, brewery tap, gift shop and brew school.

The application shows that the frontage of the building will be painted and the windows changed from tinted to clear to allow a clear view into the building.

New wooden fencing will be installed around the front paved area and a new awning put into place, with vintage-style down lighting to create ‘an elegant and characterful’ appearance according to the applicants.

Company founder, Tom Gee, explains how he opened a micro brewery in the back of the Red Lion Inn in Cricklade in 2012 - moving to Swindon in 2017.

He added that the proposed new premises: “offered us an opportunity to create a very exciting and innovative project that will fit in perfectly in such an up and coming area of Swindon.

“Our goal is to create a small experimental brewery in which to produce test brews before they are upscaled to our full kit on Hawksworth Industrial Estate.”

From the new site, Hop Kettle Brewing Company plans to work with Swindon Business, The Malt Miller, to open a brew school to support home brewery enthusiasts to create their own beer using equipment supplied at the site - and sell their brews through the Tap Room.

The tap room will sell Hop Kettle beer from Swindon and Cricklade.

Mr Gee explained: “In summary, I believe that Tap and Brew will fit in perfectly with the other established businesses in Old Town, offering something completely unique and helping to showcase a locally produced artisan product with the help of other Swindon based businesses.

“With the addition of Tap and Brew, Devizes Road will help encourage people to think again about automatically heading to Bristol or Bath for a night out and instead encourage locals to stay local and people living in those cities to visit Swindon instead.”

For further information visit www.hop-kettle.com