Green light for brewery plan for disused public toilets
BEER will be brewed in a disused toilet block near a Derbyshire town following council approval.
The structure at Artist’s Corner, on the A6 between Matlock and Matlock Bath, has been closed for more than three years, but will now get a new lease of life.
At a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting on Tuesday councillors agreed to allow husband and wife duo Stephen and Amy McKnight to operate their brewing company from the authority’s former toilet block.
Up until now, the married couple have been running Hollow Tree Brewing Company from a spare room in their Whatstandwell home.
At last night’s meeting, Mr McKnight said that their products are currently sold at local markets, online and in some shops but that the company has “outgrown our room in our home”.
He said there would not be any lorries used for deliveries or collections on site. Mr McKnight said: “Security is being raised and with the brewery hoping to become our full-time livelihood, the security of our equipment, ingredients and therefore the site itself is paramount.
“The repurposing of this building, although it might not jump out as such, very much suits a small-scale brewery. We are a husband and wife run brewery who are hoping to take our business to the next step, following our dream.”
Papers submitted with the application say the business has operated without causing any disturbance from a private home for two years and hopes this reassures residents who have worries about noise, odour and disruption.
Chris Nash, a council planning officer, said: “It is a relatively modest operation as proposed, but it does provide functional space to a growing business that has developed from a cottage industry to now a slightly bigger business which requires a slightly bigger premises. It is ideally suited to the applicants and their needs.”
He confirmed that there would not
be any sales from the site itself which cannot be used for commercial use. In April 2018, the council closed the small hexagonal building, which sits alongside the Derwent, a public car park and a children’s play area, due to the cost of maintenance and lack of profitability.
Cllr Garry Purdy, Conservative leader of the council, said the loss of the toilet block was “one of the casualties of the long austerity years of cuts”. He said he was in hospital at the time of the vote on toilet block closures and sent a letter to the authority’s previous Conservative leader, Cllr Lewis Rose, “strongly objecting” to the plans. Cllr Purdy said: “It is unfathomable why this country doesn’t have an authority that deals with public conveniences, this really should come under Public Health England.
“This is a good use of the building and it is better than it going into disrepair and vandalism and I wish Mr and Mrs McKnight good luck with the venture.” Fellow Conservative councillor Tom Donnelly, who was also not present at the closure meeting in 2018, said: “It would be better if it could be retained as a toilet but that is never going to happen.”
The Artist’s Corner building is beneath High Tor, a popular climbing route. The business was started in summer 2019 and is classed as a nanobrewery due to the scale of its output – 13 gallons/60 litres at a time
This is a good use of the building and it is better than it going into disrepair
Cllr Garry Purdy