A FAREWELL party was hosted for a Southampton brewery this weekend.

Unity Brewing Co closed it doors after the company went into liquidation.

Founder Jimmy Hatherley said the pressures of Brexit, Covid, and the cost of living left the firm in debts they were "unable to recover from".

The team hosted a party to bid farewell to the brewery at their bottle shop on Bedford Place.

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The store will remain open but has now been rebranded as Good Libations.

Jimmy said: "Unity Brewing Co closed its doors for good a couple of weeks ago and this shop here was the bottle shop and tasting room for the brewery.

"It's now post-liquidation and gone into independent hands.

"I started Unity myself and I now own the bottle shop.

"Today [Saturday] is almost a wake of sorts for the brewery that the people of Southampton really loved.

"It sadly had to close due to Brexit, Covid, and the cost of living crisis.

"These compounding factors have just made it impossible to run it anymore."

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The bottle shop on Bedford Place, which opened to the public in November, is now trading as Good Libations.

The premises has continuously been an off-licence for over 100 years, more recently as Cloud Wine - where Jimmy worked in his twenties.

He said: "We’re really excited to launch Good Libations as a home for craft beer and wine retail in the city.

"Our mission is to bring the people of Southampton some of the best quality, most delicious and most interesting drinks from the UK and beyond, that you just can’t get in the supermarkets, and to share our enthusiasm and passion for delicious drinks for every palate and preference."

The shop offers more than 200 craft beers and more than 100 wines as well as a curated range of ciders, spirits and no/low-alcohol drinks, many of them produced using natural methods.

The shop also offers tasting benches - as well as a Belgian beer cafe-style snug - with space for around 20 customers to taste their purchases on-site for a small corkage fee.