A NEW tap room could open in Bolton as popular microbrewery sets its sights on expansion.

Northern Monkey Brew Co has applied to open a new brewery just on the outskirts of the town centre ­— with their popular Nelson Square bar continue to serve customers.

If approved, a new premises licence would see them transfer and expand much of their brewery assets to a unit in Chorley Street which would focus mostly on the brewery side of the business.

And it would be open as a tap room from Friday to Sunday, co-founder Ryan Bailey said.

The Bolton News:

Ryan added that he and business partner Liam Convey had been thinking of ways to grow their business over lockdown, as bars and pubs were forced to close because of restrictions.

He said: “Because of lockdown, we have looked at how we can improve the business.

"We have focused a lot on the bar since we opened and not so much on the brewery so we decided to have a look at how we were running that.

“We are expanding the brewery because we are making far too much to be putting it in the corner of a pub.”

The duo hope that, should the application be approved, the brewery would be open by summertime.

Ryan said: “We are hoping to open it during summertime.

"We can hopefully begin moving things over the next few weeks. It would make sense for us to move the brewery stuff while people can’t go inside.

“Then we can decorate it and make it ready for people.

"We are excited and nervous about it. One thing we have learnt from the past year is to expect anything.”

Northern Monkey is opening in Nelson Square from today, with outdoor seating for its customers.

The business partners set up Northern Monkey, now one of the town's most popular bars, in 2016.