House of Beer is part-shop, part-pub in Ashbourne Derbyshire, with its craft beer offer popular and appealing to discerning beer lovers of every age. Award-winner beer writer Phil Mellow reports.
Rags of rain wind-blown from the Derbyshire Peaks are splattering across Ashbourne, and well before noon a steady drip-drip of customers in cagoules trailing wet dogs and wet children are interrupting my conversation with Mandy Hodson Walker to buy beers for the weekend.
Part pub, part shop, at this time of the day House of Beer is more shop. Going into the afternoon, the early-doors crowd will build and after 7pm make way for the evening’s clientele and perhaps some live music or a quiz, as the large and comfortably furnished room at the back comes into play.
Occupying a former antiques shop on the fringe of the town centre, this is not, on the surface, what people imagine when they think of a traditional pub. But it has the values of a traditional pub, sociable and focused on the local community, while adapted to the demands of a changing world.
Mandy and her husband Rob took over the business in the middle of 2023, when it had already been running as a craft beer bar and bottle-shop for five years, originally as Maison du Biere before sensibly switching to a less pretentious name.
Mandy had spent most of her career as a dental nurse but had also worked in hospitality in the past, while Rob was a designer. Both were craft beer enthusiasts and first visited House of Beer while they were staying at a nearby holiday cottage.
“We used to travel around the country discovering breweries and taprooms. When we saw this place was for sale, we thought we’d give it a go,” she adds, casually.
“We didn’t have to do much to it, just tweaked it a bit. We put cask beer on and standardised the hours, opening from 11am until 9pm weekdays and until 9.30pm at weekends, but we’re relaxed about exactly what time we close. People can sit and finish their drinks.”
Behind the small bar, which sits between the shop at the front and the room behind, there’s a tap wall pouring 10 beers. A German lager, from Hofbrau, is always on, the other nine lines rotate with an interesting mix of British craft and continental styles, currently including a Kolsch and a Belgian Oud Bruin.
The two cask ales (the size of the cellar won’t allow for more) are both from Derbyshire’s Shiny Brewery, the House of Beer’s closest collaborator, and the fridges are stocked with many more options.
“We try to support local breweries, that’s our ethos, but we also have big and small brewery beers from around the country, and as much as possible deal with them direct,” says Mandy. “We’re trying to get some different local breweries to supply us so we have fewer beers from each — you’ve got to share the love or none of us will survive.
“We try to support local breweries, that’s our ethos, but we also have big and small brewery beers from around the country, and as much as possible deal with them direct,” says Mandy. “We’re trying to get some different local breweries to supply us so we have fewer beers from each — you’ve got to share the love or none of us will survive.
“We try to support local breweries, that’s our ethos, but we also have big and small brewery beers from around the country, and as much as possible deal with them direct,” says Mandy. “We’re trying to get some different local breweries to supply us so we have fewer beers from each — you’ve got to share the love or none of us will survive.
“Most of our customers are older. They appreciate the quality, want to know how a beer is made, the hops and so on. They want to learn.
“We do have regulars who are in their early 20s, but they’re young people with old heads, if you know what I mean. Their parents come in, too, and join them for a drink. It’s lovely, really.”
The family feel extends to the people who work there. “Everyone we employ is from the local community, we have three lads and two girls, all part-time, the oldest is only 21, and all their parents come in here. I think they’re pleased to see their children in a job.
“One customer wanted something for their underage son, so we found a place for him bottling up. It’s about giving and receiving, supporting each other, whether it’s customers, staff, suppliers or other local businesses.”
The House of Beer family also happens to include BII Chief Executive Steve Alton CBII, whose son covers behind the bar at Christmas and Easter.
Staff are encouraged to take the time to chat with customers, with Mandy giving a lead. “On Fridays and Saturdays I go out on the floor and collect glasses, which gives me a chance to talk to people.”
As well as the regulars, there’s a tourist trade of holidaymakers to the Peak District and the Tissington Trail, who often find the pub thanks to Untappd. A pavement licence allows tables to be put out front in the warmer months.
That means Mandy and Rob have the challenge of managing what could be quite a seasonal business and makes the events they put on for locals year-round all the more important.
In the shop window there are adverts for Sunday evening live music sessions, jazz, blues and ska, a quiz and musical bingo, plus craft events that have been successful in bringing in customers on Sunday afternoons. That could be art classes, candle-making or ‘Pottery at the Pub’. With no kitchen, House of Beer hosts regular food popups, too.
Octoberfest was a big hit, and its first murder mystery evening in January was a sell-out. The pub was also a hub for Ashbourne’s Shrovetide Festival in February, and it all helps create busy content for social media channels.
Since the pandemic she feels that the pub trade has grown more social and is less about the drinking. “It’s a place for people who know each other to get together, which is why we introduced the craft events. They still have a drink, but it feels different to me, there’s more community.”
Looking ahead, Mandy hopes to host tasting events and, less happily, putting up prices on the bar. “The Government hasn’t given us a choice there, and brewery prices are up as well as the Budget increases. We’re working out exactly how to do it so that we only have to do it once this year. You can’t keep putting prices up.”
She’s hoping for a better year than last, when roadworks deterred people from coming, and is encouraged by seeing life coming back to the town centre.
“It’s good to see this street becoming more eclectic in terms of shops, with small independent businesses coming in. We’ve recently had a clothes shop and a bookshop open. It’s what people are looking for now, something different, and it will increase footfall for us, and the whole town.”
