Pub set to open in historic Melton building in May

The historic 7 King Street in Melton - the town's oldest secular building with parts dating back to 1330 EMN-180902-120956001

BeerHeadZ have already been granted a licence to operate from 7 King Street and a detailed application is now being prepared to submit to the borough council’s planning committee.

The company runs award-winning pubs of a similar nature, selling non-mainstream beers, at Newark, Retford and Grantham and wil shortly be opening another at Lincoln.

And director Phil Ayling said he was excited about opening up in Melton after getting a positive feedback from residents and traders.

He said: “We are opening shortly in Lincoln so we will need a bit of breathing space before we open in Melton.

“We have our licence, the plannning application is being worked on and we hope to open probably in May if all goes to plan.

“We may have to open with scaffolding around the building because a bit of renovation work needs to be done by the council, which owns the building.”

BeerHeadZ are lmited as to the work they can do inside the property, a grade 2 listed building which retains its Edwardian shop frontage and which was unoccupied for 15 years until Melton Council restored it with the help of lottery funding in 2004.

Part of the building date back almost 700 years. It has been predominantly used for retail, latterly as a toy shop, and was once the location of the town’s tourist information bureau.

Mr Ayling said: “We are limited to what we can do but we need to put in a new toilet block and convert the kitchen to a cellar.”

In it’s licence application, the company said the pub would be open from 10am to 1.30am seven days a week. It will be a traditional beer-drinkers pub with no juke box, pool table, TV or gaming machine.

Mr Ayling said he was interested in stocking beer from the brewery which is in talks to set up at Melton Cattle Market as part of the redevelopment of the site. Round Corner aims to brew crafted premium beers and ales in the proposed food and drink hub for phase two of the market overhaul.

“We had a lot of opposition to our pub opening in Lincoln and it cost us a lot of money in court but Melton couldn’t have been more supportive to us,” added Mr Ayling.

“The council have been helpful and the shopkeepers have really embraced us and what we want to do so we are looking forward to opening up in Melton.”