The Lymestone Vaults opens for business!

Brad and Viv from Stone’s Lymestone Brewery have opened their first pub.

The Lymestone Vaults in Newcastle opened for business on Thursday evening after a launch party on Wednesday night for friends, family and supporters.

The first Lymestone boozer is based at the former Wine Vaults on Pepper Street in Newcastle, a Grade II listed building which dates back to the late 16th century – and which, until recently, had a long history of pubs on the site.

After being empty for some time the building was sold at auction by Enterprise Inns last year. New owner Butters John Bee has taken on the front of the building that is on the High Street and Lymestone has taken on the rest of the building, with the entrance just round the corner on Pepper Street.

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Head brewer Brad addressed a packed Lymestone Vaults on Wednesday night and promised that it would be a real ale pub with a really warm welcome. The full range of Lymestone ales are on offer, as well as a monthly special and other microbrewed ales from other Staffordshire breweries. As well as spirits there are also Continental beers and “proper” cider!

The building has been transformed over the last few months, with toilets repositioned and a new lounge area brought into use where the original toilets used to stand. The result is a really cosy, comfortable pub, with a lovely lounge area and bar. As well as working to get the pub ready, this month has been one of the busiest in the brewery’s history, with 57,000 pints of Lymestone ales brewed, most for Wetherspoon’s pubs around the country.

 Brad told A Little Bit of Stone back in May after a premises licence had been granted: “Many pubs are struggling at the moment but it’s wrong to assume that the whole sector is on its knees. A section of the market – as Titanic have shown – is thriving. I hope that by offering a choice of quality products that can’t be bought in supermarkets that we can make a real success of it.

“I’ve always had the ambition to open a Lymestone pub and in time I really want to have three Lymestone pubs, one in Newcastle, one in Stafford and one in Stone, obviously.”

Brad and Viv live in Newcastle and brew in Stone on the Mount Road industrial estate – hence the ‘Lymestone’ name. Find out lots more about the brewery at www.lymestonebrewery.co.uk

Thanks to Brad and Viv for the invite to Wednesday’s launch night, and all the best to them for The Lymestone Vaults – I’m sure it’s going to be a huge success!