Troubled pub to reopen again as gin bar and distillery
A ONCE popular Birmingham music pub is to reopen as a gin bar and distillery this spring under a new name.
Mosaic Pub and Dining Group is behind plans to revitalise the troubled Fiddle & Bone pub, in Sheepcote Street, which closed down last year for a second time.
Mosaic will now reopen the canal-side venue as ‘The Distillery’ with a gin bar and distillery.
Customers will also be able to attend gin masterclasses and create their own drinks while around 25 full- and part-time jobs are to be created.
Alongside the Jewellery Quarter’s Button Factory and a pub in Cheltenham, Mosaic operates six venues in the capital.
Operations manager Michelle Moran said: “We have a tentative opening date of shortly after Easter.
“We are going to have a gin distillery called Roundhouse Gin upstairs and will create our own gin on site.
“Downstairs will continue to be run as a pub where we have 20 taps and we will serve real ale and have cross products from The Button Factory.
“There will also be a clay pizza oven in the centre of the kitchen and robata grill where food is cooked over charcoal.”
The Fiddle & Bone reopened in February 2015 after standing empty for more than a decade but closed down again before Christmas. It was famous for its live music which saw it shut down the first time after neighbouring apartments were built and residents complained about noise.
But according to Mike Olley, manager of the Westside Business Improvement District which covers the area, it had struggled to attract large volumes of customers since it reopened. He said: “It was not trading well and always seemed to be sparse on numbers in there.
“It never managed to recapture the niche that it had enjoyed many years ago, which is unfortunate as it is well kitted out, in an exceptional location and has a massive car park opposite.
“But it is not on the main thoroughfare of Broad Street so it’s a real shame as it was a nice, wholesome boozer.”
Ms Moran said live music was not going to be a major part of the new pub’s offer, adding: “We have loved opening up in the West Midlands and The Button Factory has been a great success.
“We were attracted to The Fiddle & Bone’s canal-side location and its proximity to Brindleyplace and Barclaycard Arena.
“It is a little off the beaten track but, with a huge terrace and the distillery, we hope to make it a destination in its own right. We just need to shout a bit louder about it.”