A microbrewery with a taproom: two uses, two tests
A taproom is a drinking establishment outside the use classes, and brewing is general industrial. Getting the description of the composite use right decides what the permission allows.
A microbrewery with a taproom is two planning uses in one building, and the application has to say so. Brewing is industrial, normally general industrial in Class B2. A taproom where people come to drink is a drinking establishment, which the 2020 amendment to the Use Classes Order pushed out of the use classes altogether into sui generis. Microbrewery taproom planning permission therefore turns on how you describe the composite use and whether the taproom is ancillary to the brewing in fact.
Describe it wrongly and you either get refused or you get a permission that constrains the part of the business that makes money.
Brewing as general industrial use
Commercial brewing falls in Class B2 general industrial unless the process can be carried out in a residential area without detriment to amenity, in which case it is light industrial within Class E(g)(iii). Small brewhouses are sometimes argued into the light industrial category, and occasionally that argument succeeds.
It usually does not, for three reasons that an environmental health officer will raise. The wort boil vents steam and a strong, sweet smell. Spent grain is a wet, perishable by-product that ferments in a skip. And the plant runs chillers and a glycol system that operate outside trading hours.
Where the unit is on an industrial estate with B2 consent already in place, brewing may need no permission for the use at all. On a mixed-use street or in a railway arch with residential above, assume you are applying.
Where the taproom becomes a drinking establishment
Article 3(6) of the Use Classes Order lists uses excluded from every class, and public houses, wine bars and other drinking establishments are in that list, as are drinking establishments with expanded food provision. So a taproom is sui generis, and there is no permitted change into it from anything.
The ancillary question is where the real argument sits. A small tasting area open on a Friday evening, serving beer brewed on the premises, with a floor area that is a modest fraction of the brewhouse, is arguable as ancillary to the B2 use on the facts. A 60 cover bar open five days a week, with guest beers, a kitchen and a late licence, is a drinking establishment with a brewery attached.
Four factors decide it:
- Floor area given to drinking compared with production.
- Hours, and whether the taproom opens when the brewery is not operating.
- Whether the taproom functions independently, with its own entrance, its own staff and its own trade.
- Whether the beer sold is only what is brewed on site.
Be honest in the application about which you are. An ancillary description that the business then outgrows is an enforcement problem, and the council will have the planning history.
Describing the mixed use on the application
Where the taproom is not ancillary, the correct description is a mixed use, and the description should name both parts and quantify them. Something along the lines of a mixed use comprising a brewery with a taproom, stating the production floor area and the taproom floor area, gives the authority something it can condition precisely.
That precision works in your favour. A permission for an unquantified mixed use invites a condition restricting the taproom to a small area fixed by reference to a drawing you may want to change. A permission that already states the split, with a condition allowing a stated percentage, leaves room to move.
Submit a schedule of areas and a plan with the production, cold store, packaging, trade counter and taproom areas coloured separately. Officers assessing a composite use need to see the balance, not read it out of a narrative.
Odour from the brewhouse and spent grain
Odour is the issue that refuses these applications. The boil is the main source, and it is intermittent, strong and recognisable, which is exactly the profile that generates complaints.
An Odour Assessment should identify each source, characterise it by offensiveness and intensity, locate the receptors with their heights and distances, and set out the abatement. A stack discharging above the roofline of surrounding buildings, with a vapour condenser on the kettle, handles the boil. Spent grain needs an enclosed, sealed store and a collection frequency written into a management plan, because the usual complaint is not the brewing at all but the skip on a warm Saturday.
Where the taproom also cooks, the extraction case changes and a Ventilation and Extraction Statement covering the kitchen as well as the brewhouse is needed, on the lines described in our note on community cafes and social enterprises.
Trade effluent and its separate consent
Brewery effluent has a high organic load and a variable pH, and discharging it to the public sewer needs the sewerage undertaker's consent under the Water Industry Act 1991. That is a separate application from planning, with its own charges based on volume and strength.
Plan for it early. The undertaker may require balancing, screening of solids, neutralisation or a limit on the discharge rate, and the plant takes floor space you have already allocated to something else. A planning drawing that has no space for an effluent tank is a drawing you will redraw.
The planning authority will usually want to know the outcome, because a discharge refused or restricted changes the operation. Where the site is not on mains drainage, the position is harder again and a Foul Sewage Assessment becomes part of the submission.
Noise from customers and dispersal
Plant noise is assessed conventionally, with a rating level compared to the measured background under BS 4142, and chillers and the glycol pack usually drive the design. That part is solvable with enclosures and siting.
Customer noise is the part that decides the hours. People talking outside, smoking, taking a call or waiting for a taxi are not covered by BS 4142, and councils assess them qualitatively and by reference to complaint history at comparable premises. A Noise Impact Assessment should therefore cover both, and should set out a dispersal strategy: no drinks outside after a stated time, no external seating on the residential side, signage, a door supervisor on busy evenings, and a named contact for neighbours.
Deliveries are the quiet killer. Casks and kegs rolling across a yard at 06:30 generate more complaints than a full taproom does, so condition the delivery hours yourself rather than waiting for a condition that is tighter.
Conditions on taproom hours and capacity
Expect conditions on taproom opening hours, on the maximum floor area or capacity given to drinking, on external areas and when they must be cleared, on amplified music, on plant noise expressed as a rating level, on delivery hours and on a management plan covering dispersal and spent grain.
Draft the management plan and submit it with the application. An authority that is handed a credible plan conditions the plan. An authority that is not writes its own conditions, and they are always tighter.
One honest caveat. Taprooms in railway arches and back street units are often successful precisely because they are near where people live, and a scheme that depends on a late weekend licence next to flats may simply not be consentable at the hours the business plan assumes. Test that with the authority before signing a lease. Browse all 66 report types on PlanScope to see which documents a brewery application needs, and compare the route with our note on micro-pubs in former shop units.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
What use class is a microbrewery?
Commercial brewing is general industrial in Class B2 unless the process can be carried out in a residential area without detriment to amenity, which would place it in light industrial Class E(g)(iii). Odour from the boil, spent grain storage and out of hours plant noise usually keep a brewery in B2 in practice.
Is a taproom permitted development from a brewery?
No. Article 3(6) of the Use Classes Order excludes public houses, wine bars and other drinking establishments from every class, so a taproom is sui generis and there is no permitted change into it. The only question is whether a small tasting area is ancillary to the brewing use in fact.
How do I describe a brewery and taproom on the application form?
Where the taproom is not ancillary, describe a mixed use naming both parts and quantifying them, with the production and taproom floor areas stated and a plan colouring each area separately. Precision works in your favour, because the authority then conditions the stated split rather than inventing a restrictive one.
Do I need separate consent to discharge brewery effluent?
Yes. Trade effluent discharge to the public sewer needs the sewerage undertaker's consent under the Water Industry Act 1991, separately from planning permission, with charges based on volume and strength. The undertaker may require balancing, screening or neutralisation plant, which takes floor space you need to allow for on the drawings.
What usually causes complaints about a taproom?
Customers outside rather than the beer or the brewing. Voices, smoking, phone calls and taxi waiting at closing time generate most complaints, followed by cask and keg deliveries early in the morning and the spent grain skip in warm weather. A dispersal strategy and a delivery hours condition address all three.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.