Leading North West brewery and pub retailer Hydes has launched its first new establishment in five years, following the opening of its latest premium pub dining venue, The Harry Beswick, on the Wirral, Merseyside.
The Salford-based brewer acquired the landmark building on Telegraph Road in 2022 at a cost of £1.3million. The acquisition of the building was Hydes’ first property acquisition since 2018.
Unused for over a decade, Hydes spent the past six months and invested over £2.3 million into transforming the town’s former police station into a premium pub dining venue serving a quality food and drink choice.
Hydes has named the pub ‘The Harry Beswick’ in recognition of the original architect of the building. Born in Chester in 1856, Harry Beswick was county architect for Chester from 1895 until 1926, responsible for designing over 40 buildings including numerous police stations and school buildings.
The transformation began in early summer this year. The iconic building, originally built in 1911, underwent an extensive renovation, retaining many of the building’s original features, with design enhancements and touches reflecting the station’s proud police force history.
Part of the renovations include an extension to create cosy dining including a spacious outside dining area with the addition of a welcoming sun-facing terrace and a car park, resulting in a positive contribution to the street scene, and overall vibrancy of Heswall town centre.
With almost a decade of experience with Hydes at some of its most successful premium dining pubs, Roy Wilson has been appointed as general manager. Roy successfully managed The Hornsmill in Helsby, near Chester, since 2018. Prior to this, he was at The Jolly Thresher in Lymm.
Hydes operates nearly 50 pubs ranging from Lancaster in the North to Stoke-on Trent in the Midlands and across to North Wales including a wide selection of premium dining destination outlets and traditional community pubs. Hydes currently operates one other establishment on the Wirral, the Boathouse in Parkgate, Neston.
The Harry Beswick offers a varied menu of classic and contemporary food dishes with traditional roast dinners served all day on Sundays, plus Hydes’ comprehensive range of cask and keg beers, and an extensive wines and spirits selection.
Managing director of Hydes Brewery, Adam Mayers, said: “The building and restoration is simply stunning and we’ve created a destination venue in keeping with the area. We have worked tirelessly to ensure The Harry Beswick delivers a memorable experience for customers with a quality, contemporary new design scheme and feel, combined with a premium dining and drinking offering and Hydes’ standards of customer service.
“Acquiring the building was a long time in the making and our first for five years. The pandemic put a hold on acquisitions and we focused on our existing pub estate. With the opening of the Harry Beswick, we feel the wait has most definitely been worth it.”
The acquisition and opening of The Harry Beswick represents an ongoing multi-million pound investment programme across the Hydes’ estate. Last year, Hydes committed over £4.5m to refurbishments of pubs across its estate and has increased that investment substantially throughout 2023 and 2024, with further acquisitions planned for next year.
Roy Wilson, general manager of The Harry Beswick, added: “After being left for years, it’s great to see such an iconic building open once again and bustling with guests. It’s an outstanding building and the investment to restore it to its former glory, fully retaining its significant heritage and history, has always been very important to us and our customers. First impressions on our opening weekend have been overwhelmingly positive and together with my enthusiastic and talented team, we’re looking forward to creating an experience that will see guests returning regularly.”
Hydes, with its brewery in Media City, Salford, was formed in 1863 and supplies beers to wholesalers, pub companies and other brewers throughout the UK and a pub retailing estate of nearly 50 pubs across the North West of England and North Wales.
