A couple opened their own bar that "fills a gap in the market" ten years after meeting at a bar they both worked at.
Gary and Lauren Forshaw have opened the doors on their adventure, Kas Social, in Ormskirk town centre, ten years on from meeting while both working in Shenanigans in Liverpool city centre. Gary, general manager at the time, set eyes on his future wife Lauren when she joined as bar manager.
The pair fell in love and shared a passion for one day opening their own venue. When they both found themselves redundant they were doing all they could to get by, with Gary even moving down to Essex to work in his friend's bar. But when they found out they had a baby on the way they decided a change was needed.
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Speaking to the ECHO, Gary explained how they came to decide where they would open the bar and bottle shop. He said: "I came back from working abroad with a view of staying in the country for a bit then moving away again.
"I went for an interview at a bar in Liverpool and an interview at a place in Tower Hill. I chose Liverpool and ended up staying there for 13 years. Five or six years into working there Lauren joined as bar manager.
"We got married five years ago and we've just had our daughter who turned one-year-old last week. We both come from bar backgrounds. We enjoyed going around different bars and the craft ale scene was really gathering pace when we got together.
"Lauren is a celiac so she would normally drink cider when we went out. We started going into craft beer shops so she could have a good cider or a gluten-free beer. We always had that same interest in craft ale and always thought we could do things better in places we went to. Hopefully, we will.
"We've taken the best bits from all the different places we've been to and put them together in our own place. We saw things that people were doing right but also things that were missing. There were never enough gluten-free and allergen-free beers in these places.
"We were looking at opening in Southport but Lauren suggested we go for Ormskirk because she went to university here. She said there was never much here when she lived here."
The 52-year-old is looking for people to go to Kas Social to enjoy the beer and drink responsibly, with him and Lauren, 34, choosing not to serve spirits in a bid to discourage binge drinking. He added: "What we don't want is people coming here to get drunk.
"We're encouraging people to come here and try new things and different tastes. We don't want people downing five pints, having a couple of vodkas and some shots then not remembering the night the next day. We want people to come and not only try the drinks but chat to each other.
"We also have a lot of older music playing and have an emphasis on vinyls. If a record comes on that people haven't heard for 20 or 30 years it creates a conversation. It might take a little while but not selling spirits will pay dividends. There's plenty of places in Ormskirk where you can get a vodka and coke or a gin and tonic.
"We've also stocked a lot of alcohol-free beers so people who don't drink don't feel isolated. It's not just about drinking beers, young drinkers are getting into that as well. The biggest growing market in the bar scene is alcohol-free beer and low-ABV beers."
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