The owner of a craft brewery in East Belfast has spoken about the "dream come true" of working towards opening Northern Ireland's first permanent taproom.
Boundary Brewing first opened on the Newtownards Road eight years ago, and the community owned brewery has gone from strength to strength, regularly hosting popular pop-up taprooms.
Now, they're looking towards launching NI's first permanent taproom, offering the freshest Boundary beers in the world, alongside a wine selection, local spirits, and world-class pizza from Flout! who are based on the same site.
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Boundary's co-founder, Matthew Dick, is hoping that the taproom will become a real community hub, as the co-operative currently has 1,500 members and growing.
They're hoping to use the taproom as a space to host the likes of book clubs, board game clubs, and 'helping with finance classes' to show that they're committed to the local community.
Before they're able to launch the taproom, they're aiming to raise £150,000 to fund the fit out costs. Anyone who is able to donate to their fundraiser will become a member of the co-operative, where members will get discounts, and receive 20% of their investment back as a gift voucher.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Matthew said working towards opening the taproom is a "dream come true" for him.
He said: "From the start we wanted to be more than a production brewery who make beer and ship it around the world, we wanted to have an actual home at the brewery where we can host people and actually serve them beer, and build a community around that.
"It's taken us eight years to get to that stage. We're finally in a place to be able to be able to afford working towards what's at the core of what we wanted to be from the beginning.
"It's a dream come true. The first day I met my co-founder we had a brainstorming exercise and the idea of building a community around beer has been at the heart of it, so to be able to finally put some brick and mortar to that is really exciting.
"People will be able to get the freshest Boundary beer in the world, it's made next door and it's our own venue, so it really ought to be the most accessibly priced beer.
"Craft beer at times can be very expensive and out of the reach of some people's budgets, which we can appreciate. So we want fresh, affordable beer with a great customer experience.
"We're looking forward to be able to give our customers a permanent, warm space that will be open all the time. It's a cool way to thank the people that have got us so far."
You can find out more about Boundary Brewing's Community Share Raise and get involved by clicking here.
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