FOUR entrepreneurs are bucking the national trend which is seeing 21 pubs a week shut by opening their first brewhouse in Darlington.

The pub, in Houndgate, sells beer from their own Rocket Town brewery and is hoped to be the first in chain that will spread across the North-East.

The Rocket Town Brewhouse Darlington also sells a fashionable range of gins and is said to be the first pub in town to have Prosecco on tap. It is aimed at the top end of the market at younger people who are serious about their speciality drinks.

The brewhouse is the brainchild of Paul Wick, Pip Whitehead, Philip Waller and Tim Wilkes who started the Rocket Town Brewery on Albert Hill in 2015. It produces a full range of beers, from stout to a lager-style.

"We've wanted to open a brewhouse for a number of years and it feels like it dovetails perfectly with the brewery," said Mr Wick. "We've already got a good presence in the town, through things like our 'baravan' caravan, and we hope the concept will grow into other North-East towns.

The brewhouse, which is said to have a "warm contemporary feel with an industrial twist", is behind Boyes and it opened on Friday night.