After their recent success trading at Escape To Freight Island, local brewery Pomona Island Brew Co are embarking on a new venture.
Their new pub will take over part of the former Chaophraya site above Sam’s Chophouse in the city centre. The Pomona team is renovating the beautiful building with the help of local design practice Up North Architects in a move they feel will bring something special to the area.
Pomona Island beers will still be available at the new craft beer bar at Freight Island, but the Pomona team won’t be involved now they’ve set their sights on their next project which is expected to open early/mid 2023.
Many of the Pomona team have worked in hospitality for years, and two of the directors set up The Gas Lamp on Bridge Street, so it’s natural that they returned to their first love – a proper boozer. It will be called ‘North Westward Ho’ to honour the legendary old pub ship that was moored at Pomona Docks in the 1970’s. Although the new Pomona Island version will be a wet-led venue, it’ll be firmly on dry land.
“We want the space to feel like a pub, not a bar and we want all the good things that come with that,” says a spokesperson from the Pomona Island team. “Pub spaces are for anyone, places where people come to commune, we need a bit of that right now. We want it to feel inclusive. This will be a – sort of – taproom for the brewery, but that on its own doesn’t really interest us.
“We like a venue with its own identity, where everyone’s welcome and catered for. This won’t just be a beer bar, it will have an incredible selection of drinks. It won’t just look like a bar, it will have that feel of a proper boozer. Something that will, hopefully, be around for years.”
North Westward Ho will open on Chapel Walks and Pall Mall in spring 2023.
