A NEW micropub, The Hiding Place, will open on Melksham High Street this week.
The Hiding Place, located at 15 High Street (formerly known as The Old Bakery), will open its doors this Friday, 1st March, at 6pm.
Behind the project are local couple Malcolm Shipp and Karen Davis who are also part of the team at Stealth Brew Co, the only brewery in Melksham, and The Vaults in Devizes which opened in October 2013.
The new micropub will centre around modern craft beer and will feature the brews from Stealth Brew Co plus specialist guest beers from around the UK.
Non-beer drinkers will also be catered for with a range of gins, wines, ciders and soft drinks, with the focus on smaller independent brands.
The whole Stealth Brew Co team have been busy revamping the premises in preparation for its opening with Dave Martin the brewer doing most of the building work along with his wife Mandy, retired shareholder Andy Fawthrop and his partner Dora Kan.
Malcolm and Karen, who own and will run the pub initially, have been busy mostly in the background ordering stock and supplies needed to launch the project.
There has been a lot of recycling for the project with the bar and tables built out of old roofing joists, some old tongue and groove panelling that was hidden behind a wall has been re-cut, re-fitted and painted and a hidden brick wall has been exposed too.
Malcolm said, “This has been a fun venture, a little stressful turning it around so quickly but we’ve got experience of doing this with tight deadlines and we are really excited to bring our style of pub to the lovely Melksham folk.
“The support we’ve had has been tremendous and we really can’t wait to open our door on Friday and show everyone what great beer tastes like. There will of course be drinks for non beer drinkers too!”
Initial opening hours are shorter than planned so that Malcolm and Karen can continue their roles at the brewery. The pub won’t open on Mondays and they will use that day to continue with the refurbishment, which will be ongoing for some time. Focus will be on serving top quality products, great customer service and ambience.
The Hiding Place is also believed to be the first cashless bar in Wiltshire with payment only accepted by debit/credit cards or smartphone. Karen explained the reasons for going cashless. “Book keeping takes an awful lot longer dealing with cash along with the security aspect, the counting, the discrepancies and physically taking the cash to the bank and getting change. On the whole, people have embraced the idea.”
The Hiding Place opens this Friday, 1st March, at 6pm.
