The historic Grade II-listed cabin, the old Cabman's Shelter, to the right of the railway station in Queens Road, has previously been the home of micropub BeerHeadZ

Lynette Pinchess of Nottinghamshire Live reports

A shop owner is setting up a micropub in one of Nottingham's quirkiest buildings. Brew Tavern will be opening in the former Cabman's Shelter at Nottingham Railway Station in the coming weeks.

The historic Grade II-listed cabin, to the right of the station in Queens Road, has been the home of BeerHeadZ, a micropub selling real ale, cask and craft beers until recently when the five-year lease came to an end. One of the city's smallest pubs, it's around the size of a living room.

When the closure was announced, the owner said a new business would be taking over. It has been revealed that the new micropub will be called Brew Tavern - and the man behind it is Matt Hinton, the owner of Beer Cavern, a shop in Flying Horse Walk selling craft beers, ciders and natural wines.

Matt said opening a bar had been on the cards for some years and he'd been on the lookout for locations across Nottingham when this one fell in his lap. He said: "We've had the shop now for coming up to nine and a half years. The last few years we have been exploring areas where we could grow.

"Retail has changed generally but particularly beer retail. There are lots of new places to get beer from, especially since Covid. People are buying direct from breweries, so it has been quite challenging for the sector. For a long time, even before Covid we were thinking about opening a bar as a way to extend our offering, complement what we do and ultimately increase turnover and grow organically still within the beer scene.

"Some quite good locations came and went - a really good one fell through the net unfortunately, just off Pelham Street, which would have been quite nice, so we put it on the back burner. Unfortunately that wasn't to be. We focused on other things and then a number of opportunities presented themselves at the same time. One of them being taking on the lease of what was BeerHeadZ.

"Martin, the director, got in touch with me and said they had decided not to renew the lease but they were quite proud of what they've built there and would like it to go into the hands of someone who could take what they'd built and grow it. We looked at how that might look and it seems to be a goer. All being well the lease will be sorted out in the next few weeks."

It should be a fairly swift turnaround as Brew Tavern will be using the kit already there. In the meantime the interior is getting a refresh. Matt said: "They extended their lease for a little bit so we could have a nice transition. They have proven themselves as a solid business and they have a good following which is why we want that transition to be as smooth as possible so we don't lose that customer base they have already built up. I think inevitably because of the fact it's going to be closed for a few weeks you'll probably lose a few people.

"Within that beer circle, once word gets out, and it already has to some extent, once back up and running those people will support and there is an excitement around that. We are a new operator coming in but people know us because of the shop and I think we will be sympathetic to what BeerHeadZ was but we want to elevate it as well, smooth off a few rough edges around making it a bit more comfortable in there and focussing on the range of things that aren't just cask and keg beer."

The beers will be similar to those stocked at Beer Cavern, which sells everything from German lager and continental classics to traditional English ales and super modern American and UK craft beers. The focus will be draught with a small selection of bottles and cans. Brew Tavern will also have a selection of natural wines and a coffee machine will be installed to widen the appeal.

Inside BeerHeadZ

Matt said: "It's quite exciting. One of the things about the location that's great is that it's on a railway station and gets a real mix of people passing through. Capitalising on that is the tricky bit. If you get a group of five people turning up and two really want beer and three want a coffee or a gin and you don't have those things available, it's more than likely that the group of five people are going to go somewhere else.

"I know there's a number of coffee shops in the station but the whole point is getting people into that space and coming together and sticking around for an hour or so while they wait for a train. That's the side of it we really want to build on. In terms of the beer offer it's not going to drastically change. It's going to be the sort of things we get access to from existing suppliers, there's not a great deal of difference from what they've already been doing."

There isn't an opening date yet but Matt said it will be soon, and he hopes to retain BeerHeadZ's staff if they haven't already found other jobs. Operating hours will be the same, opening from noon.