Microbrewery with a taproom: the sui generis trap
A taproom in the corner of a brewery creates a sui generis drinking establishment alongside an industrial use. Here is how to apply for it and what conditions follow.
A brewery is industry. A taproom is a drinking establishment, and drinking establishments were pushed out of the use classes system altogether in September 2020, so they now sit in sui generis. Open a bar in the corner of your brewery and you have created a mixed use that almost always needs planning permission, even though the brewing itself carries on exactly as before. That is the trap, and it catches small producers on industrial estates every year.
The licence is a separate question. A premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 lets you sell alcohol. It does not make the use lawful in planning terms, and licensing officers will not tell you otherwise.
Brewing as an industrial use
Beer production is manufacturing. Where the process can be carried out in a residential area without detriment to amenity, it falls within the light industrial limb of Class E. Where it cannot, because of plant noise, steam, odour from the boil or lorry movements, it is general industrial use in Class B2.
Most microbreweries sit somewhere uncomfortable in between, and the answer depends on the plant rather than the output. A 10 barrel kit with a direct-fired copper, a grain silo and a forklift is industry. A 3 barrel electric brewhouse in a railway arch with bagged malt and a hand truck may well be light industrial.
Get the starting classification right before anything else, because the whole application flows from it. Units let as B2 on an industrial estate rarely have a planning history that supports retail or hospitality. Units let as Class E in a town centre parade have the opposite problem, where the brewing rather than the bar is the part that needs justifying.
When a taproom becomes a separate use
Ancillary use is the concept that decides this. A sampling area used by trade visitors, open when the brewery is open, with no separate advertising and no independent trade, can be ancillary to the brewing use and need no permission. Once the taproom has its own opening hours, its own signage, its own customers arriving by taxi on a Friday night and a turnover that rivals the beer sales, it has become a primary use in its own right.
Officers look at a short list of indicators.
- Advertised opening hours that differ from the brewery's working hours
- Floorspace given over to seating, bar and toilets as a proportion of the unit
- Whether customers can enter without passing through the production area
- Table service, food, music or events
- Turnover split between wholesale and on-site sales
The safe route on a new venture is to apply for a mixed use from the start, described honestly. An application for "brewery with ancillary taproom" that then operates as a bar invites an enforcement investigation and an argument you will probably lose. The same reasoning about where one class stops and sui generis starts appears in tattoo studios, barbers and the sui generis question, and the flexibility that does exist inside Class E is covered in Class E change of use: moving a unit inside the class.
Describing the development and living with the conditions
Write the description of development yourself rather than leaving it to the council. Something like "change of use of part of Unit 4 from general industrial (Class B2) to a drinking establishment (sui generis) to form a taproom, with retention of the existing brewery" tells the officer exactly what is proposed and sets the boundary of what the permission allows.
Conditions will follow, and the ones that matter commercially are worth negotiating before they are imposed.
| Condition | What to ask for |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | A realistic closing time on Friday and Saturday, with last entry rather than a hard stop |
| Capacity | A floorspace limit rather than a headcount, which is easier to evidence |
| Outside areas | Defined seating area with a time restriction, rather than a blanket ban |
| Noise limits | A rating level for fixed plant, measured at the nearest noise sensitive facade |
| Events | A stated number of events a year with notification, rather than a prohibition |
A condition restricting the taproom to a stated floor area is common and usually sensible. It gives the council comfort that the unit will not become a bar with a token brewhouse, and it gives you a defined area you can fit out.
Noise, and who complains on an industrial estate
Industrial estates are noisy during the day and silent at night, which is why a taproom changes the picture. Fixed plant such as glycol chillers and extract fans is assessed under BS 4142, comparing the rating level of the source against the background sound level. That part is standard and an acoustic consultant will handle it in a Noise Impact Assessment.
Customer noise is harder, because BS 4142 does not apply to people. Voices in a smoking area, doors, glass collection and taxis at closing time are judged on professional assessment against the Noise Policy Statement for England and the guidance in the Planning Practice Guidance on noise. The useful evidence is a plan showing where customers will stand, the distance to the nearest home, and the management measures that control the rest.
Offer a management plan with the application. Signage asking customers to leave quietly, a supervised outside area closing an hour before the bar, no glass outside, and a named contact for complaints all cost nothing and answer the objections before they are made.
Deliveries, spent grain and trade effluent
Brewing produces two waste streams that planning officers ask about and applicants routinely forget.
Spent grain comes out of the mash tun wet and heavy, and it goes off quickly. Say where it is stored, in what, and who collects it. A covered skip on a hardstanding with a weekly collection to a farm is an answer. An open trailer by the roller door is an objection about odour and vermin waiting to happen.
Trade effluent is the bigger one. Brewery wastewater is high in organic load and often acidic or alkaline after cleaning cycles, and discharging it to the public sewer needs consent from the sewerage undertaker under the Water Industry Act 1991. That is a separate regime from planning, and it can require balancing tanks, pH correction or a discharge limit that constrains brew frequency. Sort it early, because retrofitting effluent plant into a small unit is expensive and can need its own permission.
Deliveries follow the same logic as any early morning trade use, and the hours argument runs along familiar lines, set out in bakeries and early morning deliveries: hours conditions.
What to submit
The drawings do most of the work. A floor plan with the production area, the taproom, the bar servery, toilets and the bin and grain storage clearly shown, with areas in square metres, answers the floorspace question that every condition will later depend on. A site plan showing parking, the outside seating area and the distance to the nearest residential window answers the amenity question.
Alongside those, expect to provide a short planning statement setting out the use class analysis, a noise assessment where homes are nearby, and details of extraction if food is served. Kitchen extraction has its own requirements and its own evidence, covered by a Ventilation/Extraction Statement.
One illustrative example. A four barrel brewery in a 280 square metre estate unit, proposing a 70 square metre taproom open Thursday to Sunday afternoons, with the nearest house 90 metres away across a service road. That scheme wants a plan showing the 70 square metres, a plant noise assessment for the chiller, a delivery schedule, and an offer of a condition closing the outside area at 21:00. Figures here are illustrative rather than a benchmark.
And if the council refuses, the reason will almost always be noise or hours rather than the principle of a taproom. Those are negotiable. Go back with a shorter day and a tighter management plan rather than an appeal.
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
Does a brewery taproom need planning permission?
Usually yes. Drinking establishments became sui generis when the Use Classes Order was amended in September 2020, so a taproom sits outside Class E and outside the industrial classes. Adding one to a brewery creates a mixed use that needs permission. An ancillary sampling area, open only during production hours with no separate trade, may not.
Is a premises licence enough on its own?
No. A premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 authorises the sale of alcohol and licensing officers assess it against the licensing objectives. Planning permission authorises the use of the land. The two regimes run separately, and holding a licence is no defence to an enforcement notice about an unauthorised change of use.
Is brewing Class E or Class B2?
It depends on the plant rather than the product. Where the process can be carried out in a residential area without detriment to amenity it falls within the light industrial limb of Class E. Where noise, steam, odour or lorry movements make that impossible, it is general industrial use in Class B2. Small electric brewhouses often qualify as light industrial.
How is customer noise assessed?
BS 4142 covers sound from fixed plant such as chillers and extract fans, comparing a rating level against background sound. It does not cover people. Voices, doors, glass collection and taxis are assessed on professional judgement against the Planning Practice Guidance on noise, supported by a plan showing where customers gather and a management plan.
What do I need to do about brewery wastewater?
Discharging trade effluent to the public sewer needs consent from the sewerage undertaker under the Water Industry Act 1991, which is separate from planning permission. Brewery effluent carries a high organic load and variable pH, so the consent may require balancing or pH correction plant. Resolve it early, because retrofitting that equipment is expensive.
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.