Transformation of Liverpool warehouse marks return for 230-year-old beer brand

Entrepreneurs in Liverpool have turned a former warehouse into a food and drink venue, as part of a project to reintroduce one of the city’s oldest beer brands.

H1780 Tap & Still, located on Bridgewater Street in the Baltic Triangle area, comprises an urban brewery, distillery, kitchen, three bars and retail space.

The site is the brainchild of entrepreneur Stephen Crawley, who has worked in the brewing industry for over 20 years.

Stephen said: “H1780 Tap & Still is a place where great drinks are made and flow to the wider world, and a destination where people can eat and drink beside a working brewery.

“The distillery is right next to the bar, so our guests will be intimately involved in the making of our beers and gins, and can also enjoy great food cooked from fresh and sourced wherever possible from local producers.”

The launch of Tap & Still forms the centrepiece of a comeback for Higson’s – a brand of beer produced in Liverpool for over 200 years before ceasing production in 1990.

The H in H1780 is for Higson’s, with 1780 being the year it was first made in a brewery on Dale Street.

H1780 Tap & Still’s operations manager and retail director, Paul Seiffert, co-founded the Liverpool Craft Beer Company. The firm’s Love Lane pale ales are now part of the H1780 family.

Paul commented: “In the Baltic Triangle everywhere tends to have its own niche market, but the Tap & Still is something different.

“It’s going to appeal to my dad’s generation, my friends, to tourists, and that’s going to be great for the Triangle in general which, up until very recently, has been very much an events destination.”

He continued: “If there’s an event on then the area is busy, if there isn’t, it’s not. But the Tap & Still is the first venue here that will have constant mass appeal, and that’s what makes it so exciting.

“We want the Tap & Still to be right at the centre of Liverpool’s food and drink offer. Great food, great drinks and great people. There’ll be something for everyone.”