The new bar is currently being run as a pop-up, but is due to undergo significant refurbishment before officially opening as a pub and restaurant with a capacity for 160 people in November. The venue will serve German style dishes, reflecting where its owner is originally from, and serve draught beers from its own WEST Brewery.
Wetzel intends for the new bar to have a ‘light’ and ‘timeless’ feel, and local Glasgow designer Derek Welsh is creating the new furniture.
Food and Drink
WEST on the Corner will begin serving food after its official opening in November, and the menu will be similar to WEST Brewery’s, offering a number of popular German dishes such as currywurst and sauerkraut. Wetzel also intends to place an emphasis on its breakfast offering.
“Because the site is in the West End of Glasgow, we want to do a breakfast thing,” she said. “It’s a huge meal in Germany and it can last for hours. At the weekends people will be able to have a leisurely breakfast at WEST in the Corner, then in the week when they’re in more of a rush they can grab a bacon roll and coffee. We’re working with Dear Green Coffee Roasters on our coffee menu and their coffee is fantastic.”
WEST serves only its own beer on draught, which it makes in accordance with the German Purity Law which dictates that only barley, hops, water and yeast can be used to create a truly pure beer, with no chemicals or preservatives.
Ethos
For Wetzel it is very important that WEST on the Corner has a family atmosphere and welcomes everyone, as well as offering good service and affordable prices.
“We want to be really family friendly, customers can bring their dogs, kids and grannies,” she explained. “We want the bar to be the kind of place where everybody feels welcome, that to us is really important, it’s the philosophy of WEST. I’m a single mum and I have a golden retriever, I like socialising in places where both my son and my dog are welcome.
“We’re all about good service too, that’s really important to us so we hire great staff. You can teach somebody to pour a cappuccino, but not to smile when they’re serving it. We’re also a very affordable, value for money business. We don’t want to rip people off; we want them to come back time and time again.”
Expansion and individual units
Wetzel is looking to expand the concept further, and would be keen to obtain a site in Edinburgh too. However it is important to her to run every bar as an individual concept and she had no desire for them to become a chain.
“The new venue looks nothing like the original WEST Brewery,” she commented. “That’s another thing that’s really important to me; they’re all individual units with their own character and vibe.
“We don’t intend to ever become a pub group, so whenever we get a new venue the site really needs to feel right, it’s more of a gut thing. For me it’s all about quality rather than quantity. I don’t want to run twenty pubas, maybe five, but I really need to be sold by the location and site.”