London, Feb 17 (ANI): A Chapel in Kent, which was once turned into a bookshop, has now been transformed into a pub.
The books are still there, along with barrels of local ales such as Old Dairy Blue Top and Hop-daemon's Green Daemon.
"This book store is close to many people's hearts, it's a part of local history, so I wanted to be respectful and keep as many books as I could while creating something which could be a community space," the Daily Express quoted owner Julian Newick as saying.
"People can come in for a pint of real ale and they can still buy the books on the shelves," he said.
He said that he wanted to be respectful and keep as many books as he could while creating something which could be a community space.
St Mary's Chapel, in Albion Street, Broadstairs, Kent, is part of a small revolution in British drinking habits - the micropubs... one-room ale houses that are springing up in closed-down shops across the country.
They have no blaring juke boxes, big-screen TVs or fizzy lager but provide cosy refuges for those who want a proper pint of real beer, usually from the barrel.
Newick also runs The Lifeboat in Margate in a 17th century farmhouse which has previously served as a butcher's, a green-grocer's and school uniform shop.
Micropubs sprang up in Kent, the land of hops, but have spread across the Midlands and North of England, East Anglia and the West Country, in old pet shops, florists, chemists and newsagents.
Martyn Hillier, 53, founded the movement by turning a butcher's shop into the Butcher's Arms in Herne, near Canterbury, in 2005.
His 168 sq ft empire has three butcher's blocks as tables and a sink in the corner. Pints are poured directly from a row of casks in a back corridor.
A change in the licensing laws in 2005 made it far easier to open pubs in former shops or historic buildings.
With no TVs, music or fruit machines, micropubs do not need entertainment or gambling licences.
Most open for a couple of hours at lunchtime and three or four hours in the evening
|
|
Comments:
