A PLAN to open a new tap room next to Malvern's oldest brewery still in production has been submitted to the council.

Malvern Hills Brewery wants to convert a kitchen and lounge area next door to its brewery in West Malvern Road into a fully equipped tap room.

The brewery's tap room would offer beer lovers its popular golden and dark ales and well-known Black Pear Bitter and Priessnitz Lager.

Frances Casey, sales and marketing director for the brewery, said the venture would be a return to old-fashioned tap rooms offering quality beer in a friendly community setting but would definitely not be a conventional pub.

She said: "A lot of pubs started out from people's homes and kitchens and we want to bring that idea back to Malvern.

"The idea is to provide somewhere to taste the beer and get people together just like it was in the olden days.

"It is not a pub. It is somewhere to taste some really good beer someone who has been doing it for 21 years.

"We won't have loud music playing and we won't be selling hot food or have televisions or games machines. We won't be selling other national brands of lager.

"We just want somewhere for people to enjoy our beer.

"We have wanted to do this for a long time and we are really excited about getting the community together."

"There really has been a lot of support for our tap room so far so we're really looking forward to it."

The brewery also said it needs to have a place to sell its beer due to the increase of smaller breweries opening across the country leading to greater competition.

The rise of real ale and microbrewery boom of the last couple of decades has seen brewery numbers rise from 250 in the late 90s when Malvern Hills Brewery, which celebrates its 21st birthday in September, first started brewing to more than 3,000 now.

The proposed opening times for the tap room would be 6pm to 10pm on Thursday and Friday and 12pm to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Consultation on the tap room plan ends on August 13.

Comments can be made via the planning section of Malvern Hill District Council's website.

The application number is 19/00853/FUL.