Bristol businessman Ian Johnson – who has already transformed the Clifton Observatory into a café with a rooftop terrace – has bought the listed Wellhead building at Finzels Reach, which he plans to restore and transform into a bar and café.
Sitting between the S-shaped Castle Bridge which connects Finzels Reach and the city centre, the Wellhead building was originally used to draw up water from the docks for the Georges Brewery, founded on the site in the late eighteenth century. His purchase also includes a covered terrace.
Ian Johnson says: “We’re delighted to be working to launch The Wellhead, a new café and cocktail bar in Finzels Reach, which will complement the fantastic restoration of other historic brewery buildings on the site. We’ve always had an interest in working with old buildings, and the forerunner of Georges Brewery on this site was founded in 1788, just 22 years after the Observatory was built.”
The Wellhead building was sensitively renovated last year by Cubex, the Finzels Reach developers. They had significant work to do, including replacing the roof, as well as retaining the original brickwork and fabric of the listed building.
Gavin Bridge, executive director at Bristol-based Cubex, says: “The new café and cocktail bar with its public terrace will be a fantastic addition to the growing community at Finzels, with Bocabar and Le Vignoble recently joining Left Handed Giant and Mission Pizza and established independents Spicer+Cole and Café Matariki.”
Click here to visit the Wellhead’s Instagram page.