Wrexham: The Drunk Monk celebrates its fourth birthday

Leader Live

2 days ago

The Drunk Monk is tucked away in Overton Arcade on Wrexham High Street.
Run by Kieran Irwin, his fiancée Dannii Rathbone and Kieran's brother Sean, the idea of starting the business was first discussed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
By now, it has grown to the point where it regularly offers over 100 beers, showcasing the best from across Wales and England and also the rest of the world.
The Drunk Monk just recently scooped the 'Best Pub' prize at the Best of North Wales Business Awards.
And, this weekend (July 26/27), the business is celebrating its fourth year of existence.
The Leader paid them a visit earlier this week to speak to Kieran about its growth, the impact of Wrexham AFC's takeover and what's in store for the future.
Kieran, who moved to Wrexham from Handsworth in the West Midlands a decade ago, told us: "It all started out as a lockdown hobby idea for me and my brother (Sean). He initially came up with the idea of opening our own microbrewery.
"But, after we looked into it more, we said 'why don't we open a bar?' and that conversation led to us finding a premises.
"To begin with, it was only the small room with the bar in but, after a year of being open, we knocked through into the old salon next door. We now have a pool table upstairs and a darts board up there and it's a room we use for parties."
(Image: Wrexham) From the start Kieran - who also works at Wrexham University as the venue manager for the Students Union Bar - has set out with the goal of promoting the best of local Welsh beers.
He said: "People talk about Belgium, Germany and places like that having the best beers, but they also don't realise how many breweries we have in Wales and the UK, where there are some quality beers on offer.
"We do get our beers from across the world, including German beers in for OktoberFest. But, we also promote Tiny Rebel who are based down South, as well as the likes of Magic Dragon who are based here in Wrexham.
"We try to always get the North Wales beers in and then we continuously have four different beers every week on draught. We have our set house beers of Snowdon (Colwyn Bay), Wrexham Lager and Clwb Tropica (Newport) and then four new beers which we change around and they could be from anywhere including Scotland and Plymouth.
"We typically have anywhere between 80 to over 100 different beers at any one time, we just try to keep it constantly changing."
Asked about which beers prove most popular, Kieran added: "Without a shadow of a doubt, it's Clwb Tropica at the moment. Then it's a toss up for second place between Snowdon and Wrexham Lager. Snowdon is very popular, it flies out."
Kieran says that when he initially suggested the idea to people, they advised against it. But, he and partner Dannii - who are getting married in November - pushed on with the project.
He said: "People said to us; 'don't do it, Wrexham is not a craft beer town, it's a lager town', but we wanted to prove people wrong. And it turns out it was worth it.
"We have now taken on the bar at Ty Pawb market, and we have a Beer Festival coming up in November, with local breweries in Wales and the UK coming in for that.
"Dannii is my co-owner in all of this, she is the real 'hands on' one."
The upstairs function room at The Drunk Monk which features a pool table and a darts board. (Image: Newsquest)
It's no secret that the takeover of Wrexham AFC by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney back in 2021 has had boosted the city's economy greatly.
That takeover took place at around the same time The Drunk Monk was established.
Talking about that, Kieran said: "It's been massive, it's brilliant on matchdays, we are packed before the match and after the game, especially if Wrexham win.
"Even now, during the summer, we get Americans, Canadians, Germans and Dutch people coming in. The football has massively impacted not just us, but bars all across the town.
"Especially with the promotions, it's like Christmas in May, so hopefully they can do it again."
As mentioned, The Drunk Monk was recently awarded a 'Best Pub' in North Wales prize.
And the night of the ceremony is one Kieran will not forget anytime soon - as he sadly wasn't there.
He said: "A few customers nominated us for the prize, but we didn't think we had a chance, because we're still one of the smallest pubs around.
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"So, we went on holiday and we missed the actual event, but watched the ceremony online. We were shocked to win, it was frustrating not being there, but awesome at same time."
The Drunk Monk team now has its own OktoberFest event, as well as the 'A Brewed Awakening' beer festival on November 28 to look forward to later this year.
Speaking about his longer term plans, Kieran said: "Long term, I want to open another bar, maybe not in Wrexham but within an hour radius. Then, in a year or two, we want to go back to the microbrewery, where the conversations started. We're not experts still but that would be our dream."