The Maltings Taphouse is one of many up-and-coming alternative spaces in Newton Abbot that focuses on serving quality beer from independent brewers around the world.
The Maltings is an important part of Devon’s industrial heritage, as the building was constructed by the Tuckers family in 1900, and used as a malt house all the way until it ceased production in 2018. As well as serving as a venue for the Maltingsfest, it is also the home of The Maltings Taphouse, which opened in 2016 and changed hands in the span of a few years until current manager, Chris Cutts, stepped in.
With a background in the ambulance service and charity work, Chris moved to Devon during the pandemic and initially worked part-time at the taphouse before being asked to take over as the general manager. Now he shares his experiences of running The Maltings Taphouse and his goals to transform it into a communal and cultural space.
What makes The Maltings Taphouse different from your pub down the road?
You’re very unlikely to see any of the same beer here as in Wetherspoons, for example. We focus on high end craft beers and real ale from across the country, Europe, even from the US sometimes.
Our focus is on making it a community pub for all people from all walks of life, to come together in a melting pot with a great atmosphere. It’s about understanding people – if people sit at the bar, it’s because they want to have a talk, and you need the right people behind the bar to make them feel welcome and part of a community, which a lot of places seem to have forgotten.
Did you or any of the previous managers always have an art space in mind when opening the taphouse?
That’s a recent development, although we have artists amongst the staff team, including an accomplished filmmaker – Bex – who runs a monthly film club with occasional screenings and film festivals. She’s been trying to push the place in this direction for a long time. With me taking over and having a similar mindset, the two of us alongside lots of amazing local artists have been moving towards making the place a cultural hub, particularly focused on music, art and film.
While we have to be realistic about what we can accomplish in a small town, I also think Newton Abbot has a big catchment area and enough cultural value to bring people in from those places. I walked in earlier today and Bex was running auditions for her full-length film called The Medusa Box, so to have things like that happening as almost a normal part of the day now is great. It really feels like I’m part of something that matters.
What is business like for a craft beer taphouse in Newton Abbot?
At the moment, it’s great, but I think the reason it’s great is that we have widened our appeal away from being purely craft beer focused. We had to have a wider range of beers, have something that people that might usually drink Carling or John Smiths will try, and slowly draw them into the craft beer universe. We’ve also got resident businesses: The Hatch who serve wood fired pizzas, and Brew and Grind who serve amazing specialist coffee.
The 3rd of August just gone was the best day in terms of revenue in our history. We had our summer party with a few local DJs playing on the terrace, and it was incredible to see the place buzzing, because we’ve got such a nice crowd here and it feels like it’s growing all the time.
What have been the difficulties of managing a craft taphouse?
The hardest thing is time. There’s so much we want to do with this fantastic building. We want to work on the gallery and build a new function room to raise the capacity of people, but it’s difficult to find the time to move things forward. When the bar’s busy, you’re not planning three months ahead, you’re planning two days ahead.
Profit margins are also tight. Up until June, we were 30% up on last year; last year was 25% up on the year before. I don’t think there’s many bars in the country that have seen that kind of growth, but profit still isn’t easy to come by, especially as energy bills are crazy right now.
How does The Maltings Taphouse serve as a space for up-and-coming artists and musicians?
We currently have live performances in the main bar, which can be controversial because it brings more people in, but also alienates those that want to come in for a quiet drink and find their pub ‘occupied’. Our gallery is a mezzanine level of a much larger room called the Malt Hall, where the huge malt storage bins used to be, which serves as a cinema as well as an art gallery.
The plan is to turn the main space of the Malt Hall below the gallery into a venue for live music (amongst other things). We also want to support young, grassroots artists of all kinds, particularly people that have a political or social angle to their work.
What exciting events have you held recently, and what do you have planned in the future?
We’ve just had a really busy summer with two major art exhibitions. We hosted Teignbridge Climate Actions, we had four live performances as part of the Climate Festival, as well as a multi-artist exhibition in the gallery. Following that, we had an exhibition called Through Line arranged through Exeter and Plymouth based group CAMP KIN, and a really exciting young musician from Exeter called Jazmin Witt.
Coming up, we’ve got Oktoberfest, a few live performances, then we’ll be gearing up for Christmas since that’s when bars make their profit at the end of the year. When people need to come inside away from the horrible weather, that’s when the atmosphere here is at its best.
What advice would you give for people wanting to open their own bar?
Don’t have a romantic vision of how it’s going to be. When I came into this job, I didn’t have a great deal of bar experience. While it’s great fun with the job being a hobby, there is the potential to ruin your enjoyment of what was a hobby when you make it your work.
You’ve got to be realistic that it’s not an industry you’re going to make a lot of money in. You’re going to need significant start-up funds, and you’ve got to accept that you’ll struggle to pay yourself a salary for a good couple of years whilst you build up the business.
The most important thing is how you are with people. I think it’s the main reason for our success. The beer has always been here, but what’s changed is that we’ve focused on our community. 150 people could walk through the door tonight and I’d probably know the name of almost every single one of them, which takes a lot of time and energy to build.
If you’re very introverted, you’re going to struggle, as the relentless social engagement is exhausting. Sometimes you’ll need downtime to recharge, but you’ll need to love being on that bar talking to people; if you’re not going to enjoy that, don’t do it.
What’s your favourite beer to serve here?
People would be really surprised to hear me say it because lager has a bad name, but I’m a huge fan of German-Czech dark lagers, as well as stouts and Belgian beers!