Leeds brothers plan brewery and bar in '˜overlooked' suburb
A pair of beer-making brothers hope to transform a vacant building into a small brewery and a bar.
Barry and Graeme Phillips, who run The Meanwood Brewery, have requested permission from Leeds City Council planners to change the use of 8A Stonegate Road.
Proposals include a “nano-brewery” and new “tap room” pub at the former massage parlour near to Alfred bar and Tigers Gym at the old Meanwood Terminus junction.
The brothers, who started as home brewers, would treat the project as “experimentation” and hope to come up with a new beer each week to serve.
Dad-of-one Barry, who currently works in a student support role, said: “We live in Meanwood and the brewery is already functioning in a couple of outbuildings at my house.
“It’s all about the local area for us.
“Meanwood is a kind of up-and-coming area. Stuck between Headingley and Chapel Allerton, it’s always been a bit overlooked.
“In the last few years it’s been on the up.”
Mr Phillips, 33, added that should their plan be approved, a new tap room could “make a circuit” of bars in the immediate area which includes other real ale pubs such as Alfred and East of Arcadia.
He hopes that this would encourage more people to travel to Meanwood from outside the area to socialise as well as it appealing to locals.
So far, the brothers have brewed only bottled beers and sold them at events.
Planning papers state that the brewery would be placed in a single-storey part of the building and include a brewing kit, eight fermenters and a malt store. The tap room part of the premises would make up the two-storeyed, south end part of the plot, with a beer garden also planned.