Lincoln Green Brewing Company is taking the lease on The White Lion at Beeston – its fourth site with Star Pubs & Bars – and dividing it into two pubs in a joint £625k development.
The move takes Lincoln Green’s estate to seven pubs. Work starts next week, and the venue is scheduled to open in late July creating 20 new jobs.
The revamped building will encompass The White Lion – a 40-cover top quality traditional cask ale house - and Blackshale Bar & Kitchen, a 100-seater contemporary bar specialising in craft ales and modern English cuisine.
The pubs will share one license and be the only ones in Beeston to stock beers brewed at Lincoln Green’s Hucknall brewery. The White Lion will follow Lincoln Green’s established cask ale pub format. Blackshale will be the first pub in a new brand focused on craft beer. The venue will also have a spacious first-floor function room that can be hired for private events.
The project is the brainchild of Anthony Hughes, founder of Lincoln Green Brewing Company, who came up with the idea of making two pubs out of one based on his previous 30-year career in retail with companies such as Arcadia.
Explained Anthony, “It’s common for high street retailers to split up shop units to accommodate more than one retail brand. The White Lion site is massive. It creates the opportunity to have two pubs with different offers providing routes to market for both our cask and craft beers.”
The exterior of each pub will have its own entrance, signage and distinctive look, and Blackshale will also have a 100-seater all-weather garden.
The interiors of the pubs will be separate, although a sliding bookshelf will enable staff and, if appropriate, customers to move between the two. The inside of The White Lion will have a traditional décor and a high quality finish incorporating wood floors, leather-covered Chesterfield chairs and a fire.
The bar will have eight hand pulls serving regularly changing and seasonal cask ales. A selection of carefully chosen wines, vintage whiskies and gins will complement the beers. On the food front, the pub will offer charcuterie platters and pub tapas.
By contrast, Blackshale’s interior will be modern and stylish, with exposed brickwork, vibrant colours and designer-look furniture and fittings. Its bar will have 14 draft taps offering a rotating range of eclectic craft beers and a premium drinks range including cocktails. A new kitchen and spacious dining area will enable freshly prepared food to be a major focus. The menu will cater for all occasions and provide craft beer and wine pairing suggestions for every dish.
Lincoln Green is looking to open more cask ale and craft beer pubs within a 50-mile radius of its Hucknall Brewery putting both concepts on sites with the right profile.
Adds Anthony Hughes: “For the foreseeable future we will be growing our estate via leased pubs. They allow us to expand more rapidly, and we benefit from pub company investment and support. For us they’re a real business partnership.”
Commented Mike Smith, Investment Manager for Star Pubs & Bars, “We’re delighted to be supporting Lincoln Green in their exciting plans for The White Lion site and the creation of their new craft beer concept.
'Lincoln Green is rooted in the Nottingham area; they have a great understanding of the market and their customers. It’s fantastic to be joining forces and bringing a new approach to maximsing the potential of a large pub.”
