Entrepeneur and real ale lover Malcolm Shipp is hoping to buck the decline in the pub industry by opening a micro pub in Devizes.

Mr Shipp, of Sells Green, and his business partner Chaz Hobden, brewer at Wessex Brewery at Longbridge Deverill, have applied for planning permission and a premises licence to turn an antiques shop in St John’s Street, Devizes into a pub.

Micro pubs are small pubs that sell real ale and Mr Shipp, 46, a sales manager, believes Devizes is an ideal place for a micro pub, explaining: one.

Mr Shipp, 46, said: “Micro pubs are quite a new thing that are sweeping the country but have not made it into Wiltshire yet. They are a one-room bar, like an Irish-style pub, and are being opened in former shops.

“The overheads are low because you are free of ties with pub companies. People love them – not one has failed.”

Mr Shipp founded the Kennet and Avon Brewery earlier this year and his ales are being sold at outlets including The Peppermill wine bar in Devizes and the George and Dragon pub in Rowde. A brewery will be built at Sells Green and should open next year.

Asked if Devizes needed another pub, Mr Shipp said: “I think it needs something different. It’s a one-brewery town, pretty much. Our pub will be more of a connoisseur’s paradise.” Before it was a shop, the premises used to be Town Hall Wine Vaults, an off-licence run by Jasper Holmes.