'Rivet Catcher' brewery celebrates planning application success with live music, street food and, of course, home-brewed ale
A winning combination of music and beer will be served up at a Gateshead brewery over the upcoming August bank holiday weekend.
The Great North Eastern Brewing Company Ltd in Dunston is hosting a beer and band festival from August 25-27 when it will be offering 12 different ales - at 3 a pint - against a backdrop of live music each day and evening.
Entertainment is on the cars now following the go-ahead from Gateshead Council which approved its change-of-use planning application for the former car showroom.
it mans the brewery can press full steam ahead with ambitious ideas for its premises in Wellington Road where it invited more visitors at the weekend following the success of its debut outdoor event which saw customers enjoy home-brewed beer and a live band in the new outdoor seating area.
And there promises to be much more to come on the entertainment bill.
The staging of outdoor events marks the latest stage in big plans at the brewery which only began to make its mark earlier this year, following the huge-scale revamp of the former showroom area to house the brewery and bottling plant and then further work to istall a bar and shop.
And it's a measure of further success for Mark Forest, who ran the former car lot there, and Paul Minnikin who used to be a shareholder in the Jarrow Brewery which ceased trading in 2015.
With the help of supporters and a 300,000 investment, Paul bought the old brewery's assets including equipment, trademarks and rights to the real ale names - which meant the business partners and their new team could bring the much-loved Rivet Catcher, a favourite in the region from the Jarrow Brwery days, back to the market.
Paul said at the time: "River Catcher has been selling really well. Everyone is so glad to see it back in the bars."
And it is sold direct from the brewery too, alongside other iconic beers such as Red Ellen and Swinging Gibbet as well as bradn-new ones created, brewed and bottled at the plant under the watchful eye of head brewer John Stubbs who himself used to work at Jarrow Brewery.
A recent addition to their range was Clasper's Citra Blonde, a new recipe developed in honour of the famous Victorian rower Harry Clasper who was born in Dunston.
Its shop is open all week selling five-pint druaght packs and bottles.
The GNEB Dunston Beer Festival weekend, which will also have street food on sale, will run from Friday to Sunday between noon and 11pm.