Craft brewery Butcombe has opened its first taproom, converting a former traditional Bristol pub into a showcase for its award-winning beer and food.
Named after the Wrington-based brewery’s founder Simon Whitmore, The Whitmore Tap, pictured, is housed in the former Penny pub on Whiteladies Road in Clifton. 
Mr Whitmore, a former managing director of brewing giant Courage Western, founded Butcombe in 1978 in converted farm buildings, brewing just one beer, Butcombe Original.
At the time, few breweries were making what became known as ‘real ale’ and Butcombe built up a loyal following of beer lovers in the Bristol area.
Today it owns a portfolio of 60 pubs around the West and South of England and the West Midlands – many of them gastropubs or inns with accommodation – and produces a range of cask, keg and bottled beers.
In Bristol the brewery, which was acquired by Channel Island-based beer, wine and pub group Liberation four years ago, owns The Bell in Stokes Croft, The Cottage Inn at Baltic Wharf and the Hatchett Inn on Frogmore Street and The Ostrich on Lower Guinea Street.
Butcombe described The Whitmore Tap as a new addition to Bristol’s thriving food and drink scene, serving the full range of award-winning Butcombe cask, keg and bottled beers and cider along with seasonal beers and small batch brews.
The street level bar will serve bar snacks, small plates, sharing boards and yakitori skewers, while an upstairs dining room will focus heavily on local, seasonal produce and robust dishes designed to celebrate Butcombe’s drinks range – all created in a Robata charcoal grill and open kitchen.
The former pub has been redecorated using a combination of natural materials such as stripped wood, leather and glass, with the downstairs bar featuring upholstered booths, high tables and stools and scrubbed wooden tables. There is also intimate lighting, eclectic artwork and plenty of greenery.
The upstairs dining room, pictured above, with views over Clifton, boasts a plant-lined roof lantern illuminating a huge mural of pirate Blackbeard on the rear wooden panelled wall, pictured. The room is available for private hire, meetings and events.
Liberation Group managing director pubs & inns Jayson Perfect said: “The opening of The Whitmore Tap is an incredibly exciting venture for us in that it’s our very first taproom and a real showcase of everything Butcombe Brewing Co stands for.
“Our award-winning food and drink will take centre stage in this beautifully designed, high-end and contemporary space where our guests can enjoy superb service and good old fashioned welcoming hospitality.”
Mr Whitmore died in 2012. His widow Maureen, pictured officially opening the Whitmore Tap, called it a “wonderful and generous tribute” to her late husband.
“He was very entrepreneurial and his knowledge of brewing and pubs was vast, which meant the brewery grew from strength to strength right from the start,” she added.
“I can’t tell you how proud and delighted we are as a family to see the brewery still going strong 43 years on despite these very difficult times.
“We couldn’t have started the brewery without the help of all those who worked with us, some of whom are still there. I wish The Whitmore Tap the greatest success.”
