BrewDog, the fast-growing Scottish brewer and pub operator, has had its licence application for a Danish-themed bar in London’s Farringdon refused.
The firm wanted to open the site in a former Italian restaurant on Farringdon Road in partnership with Danish brewer Mikkeller. The application was to serve drink and “local” food until 12.30am seven days a week.
Cllr George Allan said it was “a case of “good idea – wrong premises”. He said it he was satisfied that it was not going to be “another vertical drinking establishment” but gave three reasons for refusing the application.
“I felt the choice of premises was unsuitable, first, because it was wrong to convert what had been a restaurant into another bar, in an area where ‘saturation’ policies were in force and had recently been extended; secondly, there was a serious risk to the public because smokers would spill out onto the narrow pavement thus causing passers-by to have to step into the carriageway of a busy ‘red route’; and thirdly, I had concerns about the pavement nearby which has two electrical control boxes giving easy access to the top of a parapet wall from which, on the other side, there was a 6m drop directly onto electrified railway tracks.”
He said it’s likely that BrewDog will appeal at magistrates,
Allan added: “I don’t take any pleasure in this decision; in fact, I would now be glad if the BrewDog/Mikkeller concept were to try again in Clerkenwell, and replace some of the other ‘problem’ licensed premises here, of which there are still many.
“The snag is that this may not currently be financially viable. Stuffing indifferent beer down the throats of undiscriminating drinkers, in significant quantities, is still far too profitable.
“Nevertheless, one day it might come about, perhaps when the concept has been proved to be financially as attractive as the vertical drinking establishments, possibly assisted by new developments in licensing such as the late night levy.”
On a blog, BrewDog co-founder James Watt responded to the comments, pointing nout that there was no ‘saturation policy’ in place for the location when the application was made; the company consulted extensively; “the economics of all other units in this area make it unviable for a small company such as ours”.
He added: “The bar we wanted to put there would have been maybe the best beer bar in the world for beer connoisseurs – a place where people from all over the planet travel to.
“You need to make the distinction between beer appreciation and beer abuse.”
