A roastery coffee shop and craft beer microbrewery has opened in Perth city centre.
The Auld Brig has opened on 46 Princes Street and its grand launch is set to be November 26.
It will serve up speciality coffee to suit every palate and will later sell craft beer.
The Auld Brig – or TAB – is the brainchild of Lukasz Lewaszkiewicz, 33, and Michal Szulc-Michalak, 46.
The pair, who both live in Perth, formed a connection after each sharing their love of coffee and craft beer.
The venue is named after Perth’s Smeaton’s Bridge.
It is hoped that the pet-friendly space will become a hub for more than just coffee, with late-night live music and an art exhibition planned for the future.
Pair want Perth roastery and brewery to become ‘cultural institution’
Lukasz was co-founder and roaster at Perth cafe Manifesto Coffee, which shut down in June this year.
Now he is back with a new project, hoping to teach the people of Perth about speciality coffee and impress them with his baking, with Michal brewing the beer.
Lukasz told The Courier: “Me and Michal met at the Craft Beer Bottle Shop in town and before I met him, I actually got to try his home-brewed beer first.
“I remember thinking this guy can do such amazing quality on a home-brewing kit, imagine what he could be capable of if he had access to a professional set-up.
“We ended up brewing a coffee beer together and that was the beginning of our partnership.
“The people who can appreciate the difference between Nescafe and this type of coffee will likely be the same people who appreciate the difference between Tennent’s and a nice craft beer.
“We figured we could start a business that caters to both these markets and help to broaden the customer’s horizons.
“Down the line, we would like our roastery and brewery to be perceived as a cultural institution.”
‘We are already starting to see some reception’
Michal added: “We would love to hopefully invite people here for a concert or a lecture in the future.
“We don’t want it to just be coffee and beer – we would like art to be featured as well.”
Lukasz has said that service on November 26 will kick off from 9am and that there is a surprise in store for midday.
“We’re going to be open for service all day from 9am till 6pm,” he said.
“We have a surprise around midday. The only thing I will give away is it might get a little loud!
“We have this idea of wanting the cafe to stay open till late in the future.
“We’re going to stay open until 6pm for now and then expand as need be.
“We are already starting to see some reception. At the weekend, people stay until closing time.
“I feel like the idea is slowly sinking in.”
The pair hope that TAB will become a space for people to stay and socialise till late without alcohol.
Lukasz continued: “We’ve noticed that any place that’s open in Perth past 4pm will have something to do with alcohol.
“We figured that there’s a whole bunch of people who might not drink.
“Pubs can be noisy so we figured we could provide a space that people can chill out.
“We went for an organic vibe, with a cosy fireplace, to attract people in.
“The reception has been positive so far. We, along with the other businesses here, are working towards making Princes Street the cool part of town.”
The Auld Brig is open Thursday through to Sunday.
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