“Experiential” craft brewery Drygate has been created in Glasgow featuring bar and restaurant The Vintage
The 1960s Drygate building next to Tennent’s Wellpark Brewery in Glasgow’s East End has had many uses over the years, from box factory and print works to bottling plant and offices. It has now found new life as Drygate Brewing Co, described as the UK’s first “experiential craft brewery”, featuring a bar and restaurant called The Vintage. Not only can drinkers in the bar see beer being brewed behind a glass wall, there is a Studio Kit area where they can try their hand at making their own beer.
The venture is a collaboration between independent brewer Williams Bros Brewing Co and C&C Group, which owns Tennent’s. They are working with the team from The Vintage gastropub in Leith, Edinburgh, which was opened last year by Richard McLelland and Scott Williams of Williams Bros with Darren Blackburn, former general manager of Edinburgh bar The Caley Sample Room bar.
The two-storey venue has been developed with leading design studio Graven Images, with visual identity by agency D8 in partnership with graduates from Glasgow School of Art. For the building’s conversion, Graven Images used existing “eccentricities” that came from its previous incarnations and setting in the shadow of tower blocks, the Victorian Necropolis graveyard and the industrial-scale Tennent’s brewery.
The entire building, including a restored roof, has been painted in dark grey to create an imposing silhouette, while the stripped-back interior combines the building’s heritage with an industrial but warm palette. A concrete staircase has been retained as a central exposed feature and a beautifully preserved tiled façade welcomes people at the entrance.
Throughout the interior, hard surfaces are paired with warmth, such as mild steel, cast concrete, solid wood and polished patinated copper in the bar. The image of the seven peaks of the building’s roof is a recurring motif, from clear zig-zag embroidery stitched into sofas to subtler elements such as angled, X-shaped table braces.
Its beer shop is enclosed by semi-transparent mesh cladding, with a floor-to-ceiling wall of bottles that acts as a decorative backdrop to The Vintage as well as a menu of the wide range of beers on offer. The upper level houses a larger bar, events space and roof terrace which can be accessed directly from a staircase outside.
Among the more intricate details is a vinyl illustration of machinery found on the site, designed by Graven Images’ project designer, Lauren Li Porter. “Our idea was to make something iconic amongst all the surrounding landmarks, and in harmony with Drygate’s industrial features,” she says.
Drygate Brewery and The Vintage, 85 Drygate, Glasgow G4 0UT
Tel: 0141 212 8815
www.drygate.com
Who did it
Design: Graven Images
Visual identity: D8
Contractor: The G1 Group
Wood/metal work: Gordon Metal
Upholstery: Thistle Upholstery
Seating: Deadgood, Trainspotters, Satelliet UK
Lighting: Urban Cottage Industries, Moleta Munro (Artek, Vitamin), Industville
Mesh: FH Brundle
Tiles: Johnson Tiles
Signage/graphics: Autograph, Calder and Tate
