Gavin Aitchison looks at micropubs that once used to have other lives.

ONE used to be a hairdresser’s. Another was a butcher’s. Another still was a chippy, until its owner swapped batter for bitter.

Dozens of others have equally simple back-stories but between them they represent an increasingly intriguing movement.

Welcome to the world of micropubs – the modern-day ale houses that have sprung up all over the country, championing the resistance in the war on drinkers.

While supermarkets and big business wait to snap up ailing boozers, micropubs offer inspiring counter-stories. Here, the tables have turned, shops have been replaced by pubs, and drinkers are being offered new havens to enjoy.

There are now 50 nationwide, according to the Micropub Association, a membership organisation committed to celebrating and promoting the phenomenon.

They define a micropub as a small freehouse that listens to its customers, mainly serves cask ales, promotes conversation, shuns electronic entertainment and dabbles in traditional pub snacks. But there seems something more to it than that.

In York, a pub such as the Blue Bell would fit that description, but it does not intrinsically feel like a micropub, perhaps because it is too ‘real’.

The genuine micropubs, by contrast, seem to revel in their contrariness and counter-culture, proudly independent and deliberately diminutive.

York has been bypassed in this uprising, perhaps because the city’s drinkers are already spoiled for choice and have no need for yet more maverick heroes. But other parts of our region are ripe for revolution and outposts are being established.

In Beverley, Chequers Micropub in Swabys Yard has been going strong for a year now, offering a regularly rotating selection of ales in what was previously a sandwich shop.

The lower part of the building feels somewhat listless but the area immediately around the bar boasts genuine, old-school bar bustle.

Now, North Yorkshire too is set to get in on the act. The Cobbler’s Arms is due to open in Union Street in Filey in June, in what was recently an antiques shop, previously a computer shop, and before that a cobbler’s.

Paul Halliwell, who is running the project with his partner, says many of Filey’s older residents want somewhere quieter and more relaxed than some of the town’s current pubs and says their small outlet, selling five cask ales, will appeal.

“We’re going back to how pubs used to be – nice and quiet, with good conversation,” he says. “We are going to transform the shop into a small micropub, doing exactly the same as Chequers but going a bit more old-world.”

Over in Scarborough, businessman Adam Myers is also hoping to join the revolution.

“They key is a simple one,” he says – “a small, single-roomed space with the focus on locally-produced cask and craft ale, and with conversation for entertainment. Keep it small, keep it simple.”

He says many traditional pubs have become tired, old fashioned and even drab, and says micropubs can create a “modern twist on the old take”, appealing to new types of customer.

That notion may raise a few eyebrows in York, where the pub scene is varied and vibrant and there are several non-pub venues to boot, but in lesser cities and smaller towns it holds more weight.

Adam’s first choice of location has met with opposition in the planning process, but he is hopeful of coming up with a viable Plan B.

For now, all he says is that he wants to open a “one-roomed licensed premises, serving locally brewed cask and craft ales and ciders”. Watch this space.

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