Wylam Brewery toasts 25 years of independent brewing at the Palace of Arts

Few breweries have a home as grand as Wylam's. Since 2016 the independent brewer has filled the Palace of Arts in Newcastle's Exhibition Park with the smell of malt and hops, the sound of live music and the chatter of a busy taproom.

The brewery has come a long way since its founding fathers, John Boyle and Robin Leighton, first pored over malt bills and recipes in a potting shed in the village of Wylam, Northumberland. Founded in 2000, Wylam is now a 30-barrel microbrewery whose beers are enjoyed in pubs, bars and bottle shops across the UK and beyond.

In 2025 the brewery celebrated 25 years of brewing, marking a quarter of a century of experimentation, creativity and independence. Today it brews a diverse range of styles in-house, from hop-forward pales and IPAs to stouts and bitters.

The building tells its own story. The Palace of Arts was built in 1928 and 1929 for the North East Coast Exhibition of 1929 and is the only surviving building from that exhibition. It later housed the Newcastle Museum of Science and Engineering and, from 1983, the Military Vehicle Museum, before urgent repairs closed it in 2006. After almost a decade of standing empty, it reopened as Wylam Brewery on 27 May 2016, with a three-day celebration over the bank holiday weekend. The building is Grade II listed.

Wylam moved to the city from its earlier brew house at Heddon-on-the-Wall, and the move gave it room to become much more than a brewery. Alongside the brewery there is a taproom and terrace, open on Fridays from 3pm and from midday on Saturdays and Sundays, and Sunday lunch can be booked online.

The Grand Hall hosts live music, weddings, pop-up events and more. The current listings include a Lord of the Wings food battle on Friday 23 October and a Pints and Pooches Halloween special on Saturday 31 October, with gigs including Gentleman's Dub Club in early November.

For a sunny afternoon by the lake in Exhibition Park or a lively night out under the hall's lofty roof, it remains one of Newcastle's most characterful places to raise a glass.

Opening times, events, tickets and the online beer store can be found on the Wylam Brewery website.