Pub aims to be the 'home of brewing in Brighton'

Drinkers at the North Laine can watch brewers at work directly behind the bar area, who use state-of-the-art equipment to stock up to seven of the pub’s taps at a time.

Beer enthusiasts can experience brewery tours for £10, which includes three third pints of the microbrewery’s light, medium and dark ales, and one extra pint at the end of the tour.

Though this doesn’t make the pub a huge profit, manager Penny O Reilly said it helps build a reputation that the pub is “serious about beer”.

“We want to push the tours more because the customers love it, they stay longer to try our range. We aim to be the home of brewing in Brighton,” she said.

The North Laine gets through up to 40 casks of its beer a month in summer, and up to 60 in winter. It also distributes to the Brighton Spiegeltent in May, and to other pubs in Laine Pub Company, which owns its lease.

“And the brewery is good for people that work here,” O Reilly continued.

“They get constant training; they’ve all had a tour. If they wanted to go on and set up a brewery, working here would help.”

All staff pitch ideas and contribute to the brewing process. “The brewery is a draw for great staff, and a good reason to stay. The more staff know about beer the better the customer experience,” O Reilly added.

Bar manager and tour guide Michael Potter takes customers through the intricacies of brewing – how each ingredient contributes to flavour, appearance and aroma, and at what stage they’re added to the sophisticated equipment at The North Laine.

“The brewery is our best selling point,” he told the PMA​.

“People come here to try the beers. It brands us as a brew pub, and we can promote ourselves that way as we’re the only one in Brighton. When I joined here I had very limited knowledge of brewing, but I learnt here quickly, and enjoyed learning about it.”

The North Laine has introduced a Bottomless Brunch menu. For £15 between 11am-1pm, customers can chose from a selection of breakfast meals, served with either a bloody Mary or a mimosa, which can be topped up as many times as the drinker desires all day.

“We don’t make money out of it,” O Reilly said.

“But it’s exposure, it gets more people through the door. We’ve been here for three years but it’s amazing how many people don’t know about us yet. If it gets people in on the Saturday and back on the Wednesday, then it’s worth it.”

The North Laine is a large, bustling pub which employs 12 staff behind the bar alone on a busy weekend shift.

“It could easily be a place where nobody gets to know each other,” O Reilly said.

To encourage interaction, pumps do not have descriptions of the beers, ensuring staff describe beers with customers.

The pub is kicking off Oktoberfest by offing drinkers refillable steins which hold two pints for £6.60, with beers from Brighton Bier, Downlands, Long Man, Burning Sky, King Beer and Bison Beer.

The North Laine is brewing two cask ales especially, and hosting live music and competitions.

The pub is running yearlong campaign #BrewedinBrighton, involving a competition asking for images of what makes Brighton special, and is hosting a pop-up vinyl record shop this winter.