A former brewery behind a village pub has been turned into a place to eat, enjoy music, and have a good laugh. The building was previously used by the Old Sawley Brewing Co. before its closure last year.
Located in the back garden of the White Lion pub, in Tamworth Road, Sawley, the space has been turned into a restaurant and event space called The Old Brewery. The doors opened on Monday, November 3.
The room has its own bar, kitchen, a stage for live acts and, within the next few days, a giant TV screen will be installed for showing sport plus pictures of famous singers will be added for decoration.
The thriving pub was taken over last year by the independent pub company Punch Pubs & Co. Alistair Morrell, who had worked there for several years, became tenant after the takeover.
He has transformed the brewery building's surroundings, constructing the bar and the stage around running the pub at the same time.
A traditional pub, the White Lion, has never served food, only bar snacks, although previously it's has had street food vendors in the car park and a snack shack serving pizzas at the weekend.
Alistair said: "It's all off my own back. I've built everything myself. We're doing everything fresh cooked, nothing pre-packaged.
"It's not just going to be a restaurant. On a Friday and Saturday it will be an entertainment venue. Our open mics are moving over there because that's about outgrown the pub, and we've having live music every two weeks and comedy nights.
"We'll be doing disco nights through the decades so 60s, 70s, 80s and we're going to do a soul night at the end of the month, so there's all sorts of different entertainment going off. I think it'll be quite a good little space once it fully gets into the swing of everything -- something a bit different for Sawley."
The venture has created six new jobs so far, with staff all from the local area, and there are expected to be more roles in the future.
The 40-seater restaurant will be serving hearty pub food such as fish and chips, pie and mash, curry, sausage and mash, steak and an all day breakfast. Everything will be made in-house from scratch.
A special sharer menu will be available when sporting events are screened and on quiz nights. Eating will be confined to the restaurant, while the pub remains drinks only.
The Old Brewery's first live music will be from Old Skool on November 15. Themed music nights, comedy nights will also take place on Friday and Saturday nights.
The restaurant will be open seven days a week from Sunday to Thursday, 12pm to 8pm, and Friday and Saturday, from 12pm to 7pm to allow time to set up events.