A popular Bristol brewery has been granted a premises licence for a new bar in a historic building on Stokes Croft. Left Handed Giant is planning to open the bar in the Carriageworks, which lay derelict for decades but was recently converted into apartments.
The brewery will open its bar on the ground floor of the building, and was granted a licence by Bristol City Council on Thursday, July 6. Carriageworks residents told a licensing hearing they welcomed the new bar but were concerned about noise and access to a courtyard.
Left Handed Giant, which is based in St Philips, already has bars in King Street, North Street in Bedminster, and Finzels Reach opposite Castle Park. Company bosses told the hearing that their venues are “not about loud music or getting drunk”, but quality beer.
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Bruce Gray, founder of Left Handed Giant, said: “We have a commitment to try and work with the communities we operate in. It’s my hope that we can be there and have a relationship with these people that allows us to work and live together, without causing disruption to the residents.
“Our venues are not about loud music or even getting drunk. Our venues are about the quality of the product, educating people as to why a small independently produced quality-led product is different to Carling or something of that ilk, and why you should drink alcohol for the sake of the experience of the flavour and taste, rather than the alcoholic effect.
“We don’t sell pint glasses. It’s all about looking at alcohol in a different way to the traditional UK way of looking at alcohol, i.e., pints, same again, not thinking about what you’re drinking and why you’re drinking it. It’s about getting people to look at the quality of it.”
It’s unclear when the new bar will open, but the licence allows it to sell alcohol until 12am from Sunday to Wednesday and until 1am on Thursday to Saturday. A phone number will be made available for Carriageworks residents to contact in case of any noise complaints.
Luke Mildenhall-Ward, co-chair of the Carriageworks Residents Association, said: “Even though we’re kind of nit-picking on a few things, in general we are completely supportive of these guys going in, and we want them to go in. Most of the residents do as well. So we’re very keen to get them in as quickly as possible.”
