A new craft beer and wine bar is set to open in Altrincham before Christmas.
Altrincham-born Nick Scott is opening The Craftsman on Stamford New Road – on the site of the former Village, Bar 41 and Opulence bars – with his stepdad Colin.
He told us they are hoping to open by mid-December, assuming the council gives the venture the green light at a meeting next week.
Extensive refurbishment work is currently taking place inside the building, which has been vacant for some time.
The two-floor space will have room for 110 people downstairs and 60 upstairs, with a wide range of craft ales and lagers and a “great selection” of red, white and sparkling wine.
The Craftsman won’t be selling hot food but will be offering cheeses, artisan breads, pâtés and charcuterie.
Scott, a former plumber and brewery worker for whom this will be a first bar venture, said he was modelling The Craftsman on a successful Didsbury bar called Wine and Wallop.
He said: “I’ve been spending the last two years thinking of what I’d like, how I’d design it, what I think would work. I’ve spent a lot of time at the Wine and Wallop and our bar will be similar.”
He originally started the privately-funded venture himself before stepdad Colin came on board.
Colin added: “We want to stand out through our products, the ambience and the clientele. We want lads coming out for a drink and chat, and we want girls coming out for a drink and a chat.
“It won’t be a place for loud music or for people to get really drunk. It will be a laidback, chillout kind of place.”
The Craftsman’s craft ale offer will include one from Colin’s own Northern micro-brewery, and they will be getting their wines from Define Wine in Northwich.
“We’ll have wine you won’t find elsewhere, with half a dozen reds, whites and sparklings,” Colin added. “Not your standard run-of-the-mill stuff.”
The pair had hoped to open the bar in October but their plans have been delayed by a legal technicality at Trafford Council’s planning department.
Colin explained: “Because it had been a bar before they told us to go for something called a certificate of legal entitlement, and we got testimony from people who knew it as a bar.
“However, the council’s legal department then knocked it back because the testimonies weren’t sworn in front of solicitors, so they wouldn’t accept them. So they told us to start again with a full planning/change of use application. We had to pay two lots of fees and we lost about two months.”
Assuming it secures the expected permission next week, The Craftsman will be open in time for Christmas.
