New kids on the Block...
We meet the team behind Gateshead's newest food and drink venue
FANCY a beer and a burger? Then check out the new Block & Bottle at the Gateshead end of the High Level Bridge, which is taking the popular combo to a new level.
What’s believed to be Tyneside’s only venue selling craft beer alongside quality meats has just opened under an arch there in Wellington Street.
The half-and-half shop – one part butcher’s and one part ales – is a first joint business for local couple Katie Cullen and Steven Warren, who have spent the past five weeks busily revamping the former vintage store next to the Arch 16 cafe.
Combining meat and beer under one roof seemed to make “total sense” said Katie, adding: “What’s not to like!”
She will be running the beer side of the business while 26-year-old Steven, who has been a butcher for years, will be indulging his love of free-range and rare-breed meats.
Katie’s background is in events and she will be bringing her marketing skills to bear on future events which they hope to host there. “Like beer and meat pairings,” she said. Work has taken the couple away from the region, most recently to London, but on their return to the North East they decided that their home turf would be the ideal place for their venture. And 28-year-old Katie doesn’t know of another shop with a similar quality meat and beer set-up. “We’ve wanted to do this for quite a while and just thought they might really work together,” she said. “Both of us really enjoy beer and for the past few years in London we got exposed to a lot more choice.” Her aim is to source almost 50% of their craft beers from the North East and the rest from across the UK. These will be on sale in old-style bottles which customers can reuse whenever they want to try another one. Their meat providers also will be made up of a mix of those in the region and others a bit further afield. Steven will be offering rare breed meats, prime cuts and herb-fed free-range chickens from producers in County Durham and Yorkshire. He will be making his own burgers and sausages too and the bacon will be smoked by a company in Wallsend. Besides the butcher block offerings will be a charcuterie range of meats, such as chorizo and salami. Block & Bottle is not a bar - there’s not the room - but there is a table where customers who call in and fancy trying a beer on the spot can do so. The Block & Bottle will initially be open from 8am until 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am-4pm on Sundays.