An East Cowes-based craft brewery wants to open a new Isle of Wight bar in a former shop for collectibles and second-hand items.
The Old Curiosity Shop closed in the last 12 months and now an application has been submitted to turn it into the Island Life Craft Ale House – which could find itself on the map as a popular Isle of Wight pub in years to come.
Island Life Craft Brewery currently runs from the back room of a house on Clarence Road, further along from the ex-shop, and makes 5 IPAs, sold online and delivered to the Island and parts of Southampton.
The 500sqft empty shop space could be refitted, featuring wood, exposed brick and ‘stylish’ industrial lighting. Noise control would be in the form of soundproofing and ‘appropriate closing times for outdoor areas.’
Applicant Glenn Johnson wants a licence to supply alcohol from 12:00 to 22:30 on Mondays to Thursdays, from 12:00 to 23:00 on Fridays and Saturdays and from 12:00 to 22:00 on Sundays.
The ale house would open for a further 30 minutes, after the licensable hours.
Plans show no brewing would take place onsite, but the bar would be stocked with a selection of handcrafted ales.
A CCTV system would be installed and staff would undergo training to identify signs of disorderly behaviour and fake IDs, say the plans.
A sign in the shop’s door said it would be a ‘remarkable venue: a craft ale house like no other on the Island.’
It reads:
“Welcome to Island Life, where every beer poured is an opportunity to toast to the extraordinary and embrace the extraordinary in each other.”
It could be open from September if a licence is granted by the Isle of Wight Council.
You can view the application, 23/00942/LAPNEW, on the Isle of Wight Council’s planning register. Comments can be submitted until July 17.
This is fantastic news. Best of luck and let’s support local business.
No doubt the normal names will be along soon moaning about people having fun and then complaining that towns are dying in the same breath.
Indeed. I wonder if the same people that moaned and whinged about Bettys Door having an alcohol licence will object to this application ?
Interesting that most people have stopped going to pubs because they can’t afford it but open a craft brewery pub and they will pay all sorts of daft prices. The gentrification of the pub. The wealthier are going to pubs whereas the poor now sit at home drinking cheap wine. Odd turn of events.