A Bolton bar owner has spoken out about what it means to be included in the Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide. Ryan Bailey is one of the co-owners of Northern Monkey bar. Beer served at the Nelson Square bar comes from the company’s microbrewery just 10 minutes away on Chorley Street.
It’s been so successful that, in May this year, the brewery – which celebrated its sixth birthday last week – opened another location in Lytham, Lancashire – one of five locations across the country. Sign up to our newsletters to get the latest stories sent straight to your inbox. Speaking to The Bolton News a day after the company’s staff summer party in Blackpool, Ryan put the bar’s success – with its consistent appearance in the Good Beer Guide – down to its roots as a family business.
He said: “It’s just a great achievement, since the day we opened we’ve managed to be consistently in the Good Beer Guide, which is testament to the staff, really, and the fact we make it in Bolton and serve it to the best it can be. “We’re a family business , which is rare these days – family-owned independent business, to actually be bucking the trend of pubs closing down, we’re reliant heavily on loyal customers and we’ve got a great reputation from the people of Bolton and further afield that support us. “Without customers, then obviously there’s nobody drinking the beer and we wouldn’t be in the Good Beer Guide, it’s all down to the returning customers and t.