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On a sunny Friday morning in March, I crossed the Tyne Bridge to sit down with Alice (co-founder of Axis) for a really lovely, honest conversation about her recognition on Code’s 30-under-30 list, and how this type of space can provide a network for women in the industry. We chatted about the effects this award can have, as well as some of the challenges she’s faced as a female business owner in beer and wine.
She also divulged how both her and her partner, Alex, place emphasis on ensuring women feel comfortable entering the bar alone, by thinking of Axis as an extension of their home.
If you haven’t visited Axis already, it’s well worth the short walk
over the High-Level Bridge, especially as the sun starts to brighten up our evenings. They offer amazing crafbeer, natural wine and some of the friendliest faces in the industry through their team, Anna, Joshua and Mattie.
Words by Dylan George
How did Axis come to be, and how is it going four years in?
“I met my partner Alex in Sydney. We’d both moved there separately but ended up working at the same brewery taproom. Alex had already done a degree in Hospitality Management, so I think he always knew this was the path he was going to take, but I’d only really worked in the village pub where I grew up, so at 18 that was all I had to go off. Alex had come from real ale pubs, so he knew about cask, but in Australia and New Zealand everything is much more keg led. The climate just suits it. I don’t think cask translates particularly well to a summer in Sydney.
We both ended up moving to Wellington, and the craft beer scene there is honestly world leading. It’s talked about a bit, but it still feels like a secret because we don’t get to try much of their beer over here. What really stood out to me wasn’t just the beer, it was the spaces that beer was being poured in. I moved out there in 2016, and at that time, to me, living in rural Northumberland at least, pub culture in the UK still felt generally male-oriented. The pubs I’d experienced were still these kinds of small, dark spaces. In New Zealand, everywhere felt open, bright, welcoming to all genders, all ages. That had a massive impact on how I see beer, I think.
When we moved back after the first lockdown, the plan was to get jobs again in hospitality, but then we went straight into another lockdown. It was actually my dad who said, ‘You both want to open your own place, why don’t you use this time to work on it properly?’ We took a lot of inspiration from those welcoming, inclusive spaces in Wellington and tried to bring that here. We wanted to create somewhere that didn’t feel intimidating, somewhere anyone could walk into, and we really hope we’ve done that with Axis over the last 4 years.”
I feel like the hospitality industry changes at twice the rate of any other. Did you notice a shift in the UK craft beer scene between leaving and coming back?
“It actually felt like perfect timing. When we came back, the craft beer scene here was really starting to take off. Breweries like Cloudwater and Deya were getting big.
My parents live in Amble, and Brewis had just opened, pouring New England-style pales. None of that was really around when we left, so I remember being shocked by how much had changed in those 4 years or so.
We ended up opening right as that wave was building, which helped. And we slotted in alongside Mean Eyed Cat and Town Mouse, who were already doing great things. It felt like we were part of a growing community.”
You guys make being business owners look incredibly smooth sailing, is that how it feels from the inside, or have there been big challenges that you’ve faced over the past 4 years?
“Alex orders all the beer, and I order the wine, so for me there was a big learning curve around understanding what customers wanted from that side of things. A lot of it has been learning as I go.
When we first came to view the space, it was only the Central and the Station East here, which we didn’t know much about. But I’d visited the arches back in 2018, when Block and Bottle were open, and I’d loved it.
I really wanted to take it, and Alex was like, ‘Are you sure?’. We’d hardly seen anyone else along the street the whole time, but I remembered the buzz when it was full. Then we explored the surroundings, went into Ochre Yards, and then Low Fell and Bensham, and realised there was so much potential.
We’ve been so lucky really. We have the most welcoming customers, people are always so open to finding out what we’re all about, it’s amazing to me how many people come in with such an open mind.”
You’re a huge minority in this space, as a female business owner. What have been some challenges in that respect, and do you see customer attitudes changing as people visit and get to know you?
“I like to think that having both me and Alex here has helped make Axis a welcoming place for everyone, where traditional beer spaces can feel quite cordoned off for men. I love going onto our Instagram analytics and seeing that at least 50% of our audience is women, I always think, ‘Thank God,’ because I hate the thought that anyone would feel unwelcome here.
It’s the same for me as a customer too. Seeing a welcoming female member of staff, or a female owner, will always make me feel safer going into a bar, so I’m conscious of that here.
You do still get moments where people don’t listen to my recommendations for beer, or they’re surprised that I drink beer and have that knowledge. People are always happy to ask me about wine, but beer has this strange stigma around it. It’s not malicious, but it is noticeable.
I think because of that, I take a lot of pride in changing people’s perceptions, showing that I’m just as knowledgeable and just as passionate about beer, challenging those ideas of what a woman can or can’t drink. Over time, you do see their attitudes shift as people get to know you and trust you.”
Is there anything that you do specifically that you think makes this space more comfortable for women to visit?
“From the very beginning, we wanted this place to feel welcoming for everyone. We’ve always tried to run the business based on what we’d want to see as customers ourselves. Pretty much every question we asked when we were opening came back to whether we would feel comfortable walking into the space.
One of my favourite things now is that every week we’ll have a woman come in by herself, sit with a book, and have a beer or a glass of wine. I love seeing that, because that’s exactly what I’d want to do as a customer. Even older men have commented on it, noticing women coming in alone, having a chat at the bar or just sitting by themselves. That kind of visibility has a much bigger impact than people might think. Seeing women in the space, whether that’s behind the bar or enjoying it as customers, really changes how it feels.
We’re also very strict on behaviour. It probably comes from Australia, where alcohol rules are much tighter. This is our house, and anyone who comes in is our guest, and if you’re here to make someone feel uncomfortable, then this isn’t the place for you.
Alex is just as aware of that as I am, and we’re always keeping an eye on things. We treat it like our home. Pubs haven’t always felt like homely or safe spaces for certain groups of people, especially women, but that’s exactly what we’re trying to change. We want this to feel like a place where anyone can come in, on their own or with others, and feel completely comfortable.”
If you could go back 4 years, what advice would you give yourself entering this space as a female business owner when opening Axis?
“I think I’d just reassure myself. Because we didn’t know the area, we had no idea who was going to walk through the door. But we’ve ended up with the nicest group of customers I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve worked in hospitality since I was 15, across loads of different places and businesses, and I’ve never known a group of regulars like this. People are so kind, respectful, and genuinely interested in what we’re doing. They understand that this is our passion, that we’ve chosen this as our career. It’s not a stepping stone for us.
So yeah, I’d go back and tell myself: you’ve got that to look forward to.”
Now, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to have a chat with you today was your recent includsion in the Code Hospitality 30 Under 30 list. As an industry where people are often encouraged to stay silent about their successes, how did that recognition feel, and what was the experience like?
“Yeah, that’s it, when you’re in hospitality, you never really expect to receive any kind of recognition for it. Especially in the North East, we don’t have many awards or moments where individuals are recognised. It’s usually whole restaurants or bars, or it’s a nationwide thing where the North East can fall under the radar a bit.
I got the email in November, we were actually in Antwerp at the time, and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone until January. I couldn’t believe it. It’s such a nationwide award, with people from all over - London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Cornwall - everywhere.
Code took us down to London for lunch at Claridge’s, and I remember looking through the list beforehand - people from marketing, social media, HR, sommeliers, chefs - such a mix of roles. I was quite apprehensive going into it as I had no idea what everyone was going to be like.
But honestly, everyone was incredible. So interesting, and so genuinely interested in learning about each other. It felt really special to be able to talk about hospitality as a whole industry across the UK, without it being compartmentalised into job roles or locations. It removed a lot of those usual barriers.
You could really tell that everyone in that room, even at such a young age, saw this as a career, not a stepping stone. That was probably the most inspiring part. It was such a motivating room to be in.”
Half of that list were young women. How did that feel, and do you think there’s a need for more spaces like that to build community and support young women in hospitality?
“Yeah, definitely. You go to a lot of industry events and they’re still quite male-dominated, so for it not only to be half women, but specifically young women, was really special.
To see that there are so many young women building careers in hospitality, and to hear about how talented they all are, was genuinely really exciting. It felt like a bit of a shift, like things are changing, even if it is gradually.
We hear the word ‘community’ a lot in hospitality, but spaces like that allow it to happen properly. It’s easy to become quite insular in your own city, especially being a bit out of the way up in the North East. There are loads of exciting things happening here, but it’s still quite a small scene.
Being able to see what’s happening across the rest of the UK, and to connect with people in other cities, gives you so much more inspiration, more visibility, and a bigger sense of what’s possible. It raises the ceiling a bit.
And especially for women, having those opportunities to meet people, share experiences, and build networks across the industry is so important.
The more spaces like that we provide, the more we’ll see women staying in the industry, progressing, and pushing things forward.”
What else needs to happen next to make hospitality more inclusive and equitable for women?
“More like The Table Project. It’s such an amazing thing. Even if something like that inspires one woman, to stay in the industry, to start something, to meet people, it all adds up. We’ve seen a lot of positive change in the last five or six years and seeing people like Becky doing what she’s doing is really motivating. It pushes you to do more.
It’s definitely a domino effect.
The more women you see in hospitality, the more normal good practice will become, and the more it encourages others to come into the industry. Visibility is such a big part of it.
We also need more employers to take things like family planning and women’s health seriously, and to ensure that their staff understand it. That’s something that was never really explained to me when I was younger, I just assumed if I got pregnant and wanted to start a family, I’d lose my job. I’d love women to see that it is possible to have both a career and a family in this industry.”
As employers, how do you try to support that?
“We approach it the same way we do with customers, we think about how we’d want to be treated. When our team comes to work, it should feel comfortable, supportive, like they’re not sacrificing their life for the job. If someone wants time off, they can always have it.
Things like maternity, paternity, and family planning are really important to us, because I know what it feels like to not understand your rights around those things. We never want anyone working for us to feel like they have to choose between a career and a family.
If someone wants both, we’ll support them for as long as they’re with us. That’s really important.”
What’s next for Axis?
“We always say we want Axis to still be here in 100 years, if they’ll have us.
Right now, the focus is on making this space the best it can be. We want it to feel like a real institution before we think about anything else.
We always want our customers and staff to love it as much as we do, and we never want that to be compromised.
Gateshead is changing as well, we love it here, and we’d love to be part of this community for a long time, and see it continue to become even better.”
If you and Alex have a weekend off, where are you eating and drinking from Friday evening to Sunday night?
“Friday night would always be Free Trade, then over to Heaton for Flint, and finishing at Elder Beer.
Saturday morning we’ll go to Roma, then lunch at Cook House, I love how bright it is in the daytime. Then Donzoko, a walk along the Quayside, and dinner at St Vincent.
Sunday, we’ll get the train to Wylam, walk to The Olde Cross, and finish at The Broad Chare.
A very delicious, and quite expensive weekend.”
