- 3 months ago
Wolverhampton City Centre has an exciting new pub/ music venue on the way.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Here at what was former Mike Lloyds store and another store. What was the other store?
00:05I have no idea what the other store was. I think it was a closed store, I believe.
00:08People will know it as the Mike Lloyds, wouldn't they?
00:10Yeah, at least where we're standing now was Mike Lloyds, make sure.
00:12So introduce yourselves, lads. Who have we got here?
00:15I'm Nick Bennett and I'm Andy Evans.
00:18So you're local lads, don't live too far away.
00:20And what's happening then? There's some work going on. What are you creating here then, gents?
00:24Well, obviously it's early days, but we're creating a real ale and craft beer venue.
00:31Fantastic.
00:31And obviously we'll have live music as well.
00:34So hoping, as you can see from the bar, it's quite a big bar.
00:37Many different beers, I'm on a wide selection of beers.
00:40Cool. And we're having a little chat off camera.
00:43It's not easy to find a venue, is it, these days?
00:46You've looked at many venues around the city and, you know, some of the buildings you get inside
00:51and there's bloody mushrooms growing on the wall and stuff.
00:54Yeah, I think we must have looked at every vacant building in Wolverhampton
00:58over the last 18 months or two years.
01:00With any kind of potential.
01:02Yeah. And you actually thought this building was in use, didn't you,
01:05with the windows blacked off?
01:06You thought the man in the centre had got something going on?
01:07Yeah, I thought the man in the centre.
01:08It was Neil Archkis from Camera, who put the idea to me at the festival last year,
01:14just at the Consul VF Festival, just said,
01:15have you thought about the old KFC?
01:17Yeah.
01:17And to be honest, I didn't, because from the outside, I thought it had been you.
01:20So, I think we've said at the nearest time, I think this is our 17th building that we've used
01:25in just under two years.
01:27So, I can imagine after viewing that many buildings, a little bit of yours going,
01:32oh, I don't know if I've got the energy to view the other one.
01:34You know what I mean?
01:34You're going to be having a break and just go, okay, it's just going to pop up and smacks
01:38in the face one day.
01:39And funnily enough, it did.
01:41Yeah, yeah.
01:41Neil said that to me and I thought, you know what, I'll go and have a look.
01:44And we had a look and then, I've got to admit though, when we first viewed it, I was like,
01:48compared to the old place, I was like, I can't do what we did at the old place.
01:52It's too big.
01:53Yeah, you thought it was a bit big, didn't you?
01:54I mean, it's a cracking space.
01:56But then I guess once you go back, you start thinking, well, hang on, more space, more
01:59to play with.
02:00I can do this, do that.
02:02So, you say the other place, just fill us in on what your background is, gents.
02:05What were you up to before?
02:06Well, this is 10 years actually this year as a Consul VF Festival.
02:10I've been doing the Consul VF Festival for 10 years.
02:12And then in 2023, me and a few friends opened up the old VKL house in Bilbrook.
02:18I came out of there in September 24.
02:22And then we've been looking for a place around Bilbrook, Consul.
02:25Not found anything.
02:27But me and Nick, for God, way before that, a year or so before that, have been looking
02:32for a place in town.
02:34Yeah, yeah.
02:35Whereas I've got a training company, health and safety training company.
02:39Oh, have you?
02:39Yeah, PL2 training.
02:40So, there'll definitely be no injuries on this rebuild.
02:44We'll be up to all the risk assessments.
02:47Yeah, yeah.
02:48We'll be all right.
02:48Yeah.
02:49So, you're hoping to be open when?
02:52Well, this date's been, I mean, originally when we viewed the building in October last
02:56year and then we kind of sorted lease January.
02:59We was hoping to be open for the end of May and then we had to, because of where it is
03:05in the city centre and because of having live music, we had to get noise assessments done.
03:09So, that took a lot longer than we anticipated.
03:12So, now we're looking at, it's ambitious, but end of September, middle of October.
03:18But that's just the ground floor.
03:20Yeah.
03:20When you walk round your seat, there's four floors.
03:23Well, I'll tell you what, let's go for it, let's take us round.
03:26So, this will be our entrance.
03:27Yeah.
03:27Yeah.
03:28So, go on, talk us through the vision then.
03:30I know the UDU stuff.
03:31Is it going to be pink linen hanging off the ceiling?
03:35What's the look?
03:36Silver poles.
03:38This will be just seating and stuff like that and that's where music will be.
03:43So, I'll recuse the music from that window.
03:44In that corner there, yeah.
03:46All this is glass.
03:47Obviously, there's posters up at the moment.
03:49So, this, once it's open, this will be fully visible.
03:51Yeah, there's going to be a lovely amount of light and it's quite nice to be looking out
03:55onto that historic kind of Queen Square bit as well, isn't it?
03:57This is the bar.
03:58Yeah.
03:59It's been built at the moment.
04:01So, it's going to be kind of an industrial kind of vibe look, yeah?
04:04Yeah, industrial like tap room type things.
04:07So, you know, like what you get in a brewery tap room.
04:10Scaffolding, scaffold walls, that kind of feel for it.
04:13We've put this full floor in for now because that's how you get to downstairs.
04:16And when we first open, we don't want people going downstairs.
04:19So, what is your, I don't remember a downstairs.
04:22I guess perhaps that was off limit to the public when it wasn't.
04:24Yeah, I think, well, we've got to, speaking to building control and the fire
04:27and safety, we've got to get building regs approval for that
04:30before we can let the public go down there.
04:32It's okay for staff.
04:33It's never had any people down there.
04:34It's never had public access, only staff.
04:36So, I think it was where, for Mike Lloyds, it would have been where the stock was, I presume.
04:40So, what are you hoping to have down there, then?
04:43So, there's two basements, because originally, obviously, this was two buildings, Mike Lloyds here
04:47and whatever it was there.
04:49So, underneath here's a basement.
04:51And we're hoping to have, like, a couple of pool tables, dartboards.
04:55Oh, wow.
04:56Games room.
04:56Oh, awesome.
04:57Yeah, yeah, fantastic, actually, yeah.
04:59And then, when you go down some more stairs, part of the building, and some of them under
05:04that ramp is an area, it's bigger than that side.
05:07Oh, wow.
05:08So, it's a good space, then, isn't it?
05:09Yeah, yeah.
05:10And we're looking at turning that into, like, another version, like, of the Cavern Club.
05:15So, it's going to be a live music venue.
05:17Yeah, yeah.
05:17Small capacity, small bands and gigs and other stuff like that.
05:22So, it's going to be mainly aimed at live music.
05:23If we can get the planning permission for it.
05:25If we can get the planning permission for it, obviously.
05:26And then, upstairs...
05:28Well, come on, then.
05:28Let's do it.
05:31So, is this the upstairs where I would have gone to buy my tickets for Mike Lloyd's?
05:35No, this is the other side.
05:37The other side of it, yeah.
05:38So, it's kind of a two units, effectively, isn't it?
05:40Yeah, it is, yeah.
05:41I don't know where the stairs are for Mike Lloyd's, but going upstairs.
05:44Yeah.
05:45Maybe they took them out.
05:46And you were saying, you know, you're potentially, you're thinking, maybe even a little corner
05:50with some Mike Lloyd's old, you know, memorabilia.
05:53If anyone's got any old Mike Lloyd's, like, little bags or something,
05:56you know, pictures or what have you.
05:57Yeah, yeah.
05:57I've been to Warbrampton Archives and got some pictures, which, uh, spoke to the helpful
06:01lady there.
06:02But, uh, I'd like to get some stuff from Mike Lloyd's, because a little bit of a homage
06:06to it, to be honest.
06:07Yeah.
06:07We're going to have the live music as well.
06:08Yeah, and we're going to have live music as well.
06:09Yeah.
06:10So, this, um...
06:11This is a lovely spot, actually.
06:12Yeah, this is cracking on the corner here.
06:14Let's just have a...
06:14Well, this, when we first open, this would just be where people go to the toilets,
06:18because the toilet's up there.
06:20Yeah.
06:20There's a toilet down there, but there's a toilet to be there.
06:22So, for now, we're only going to be just putting a toilet down there and sit in the games room
06:26up here for a bit until we've...
06:27Until you've got that bottom bit sorted.
06:29Yeah, yeah.
06:29I mean, what a lovely spot to sit here.
06:31Look at that, looking at.
06:34It's a bit...
06:35It still needs a cleaner, obviously, but, yeah.
06:37You get an idea?
06:37Well, we'll forgive you for a bit of dust, do you know what I mean?
06:40It's a work in progress.
06:41I think...
06:42Look at that.
06:42Fantastic.
06:43What have you guys?
06:44So, what's this bar going to be called, then?
06:46It's going to be called Perfect Ale Cask and Keg, which obviously abbreviates to Pack.
06:52Ah.
06:53So, kind of tying in with Wolverhampton a little bit, and then...
06:56Yeah.
06:56Yeah, and our logo ties into Wolverhampton a little bit as well, so...
06:59As in Wolfpack and...
07:01Yeah.
07:01Yeah, yeah.
07:02So, yeah, that's it.
07:04It took ages to think of an idea, to be honest, and name, but...
07:07Yeah.
07:07I don't know why it just popped in my head, and I was like, yeah, that'll do.
07:09He didn't have, like, pubby McBoatface or whatever.
07:13There's a few ideas that came out.
07:15Yeah.
07:16So, we've come through onto another floor.
07:18This is the basement.
07:19I think we're up to about four floors now.
07:21I mean, it's like a TARDIS, isn't it?
07:22Gents, this place.
07:23It is, yeah.
07:24So, what's the...
07:25I mean, this is a fantastic atmospheric room.
07:28What we hoping is going to be happening now, then?
07:30Well, we've got to...
07:32Obviously, we've got to add building regs from the council down and go through what we need
07:36and fire.
07:37So, we've got to get all that approval first, because this is...
07:39It's never been used for public access.
07:41Yeah.
07:41It's always been like a basement.
07:42So, this is...
07:44The end of the building upstairs...
07:45Yeah.
07:46...is here.
07:47And this part, I believe, is underneath the ramp of the...
07:50Oh, the walkway.
07:51Yeah, the egg fire exit of the mountain.
07:53Yeah.
07:55So, our idea of this is to...
07:57We're going to put a stage up there.
07:59Wow.
07:59So, we're going to have local bands and bands profile, whatever.
08:03Yeah.
08:03A small music venue.
08:06So, we're trying to recreate some of, like, the cabinet notes.
08:09It's not the same set-up as the cabinet, but that type of...
08:11Yeah, but you've got the bare bones at there, isn't it?
08:13It's got the bare bones at there, so...
08:15Bar out of the end.
08:16So, bands can come practice as well in the daytime as well, if we can get it through planning.
08:21And you've had a speaker down here, and you've had it blasting, and you're upstairs, you can't hear anything, can you?
08:26It's such a solid building.
08:28Well, I did that originally, and then part of the noise assessment, they had to do all that, because we said when we put the planning application in and license, that we're going to have live music and bands.
08:36Yeah.
08:37So, when they did the noise assessment, they put a very big loudspeaker here, and when we went upstairs on the ground floor, you couldn't hear anything.
08:44So, I like the idea that people could be up there having a real hour or craft beer, but even have a choir room there, or a choir room, or whatever.
08:52But down here, we could potentially have a full band and a hundred people or whatever watching the band, so that's the idea.
08:59Awesome.
09:00And this way, he's going to go towards the toilets and the staff room, yeah?
09:05Got you.
09:05Fantastic.
09:06For now, that's what you'll see for when you open, obviously.
09:10Yeah.
09:10There's another room through here and through there, which we've got an idea what we're going to do with that.
09:15That's going to be impressive if we get that done.
09:17So, phase one will be the ground floor in this part, and then phase two, we're going for the two basements.
09:22So, the other room next door, is that a bit of a secret at the minute?
09:26Yeah, it's going to be a bit of an...
09:28We've got an idea, and I think if this floor and the basement go ahead as we planned, once we start that, that will be our...
09:36A little ice on the cage.
09:38Yeah, yeah.
09:39Fantastic.
09:40Well, we wish you all the best, lads.
09:42I mean, you know, the council are saying that the amount of developers that have signed on the dotted line to build new residential premises city centre would amount to, you know, 5,000 more people living in the city centre in the next few years.
09:57So, hopefully, that can...
10:00You know, those developers can crack on.
10:01And, um, now, I'm sure you'd, um, we've done a couple of things with Sean Kesey from Pubwatch.
10:11Yeah, yeah.
10:11And, um, he's calling upon, kind of, perhaps a review of the parking charges, but as a new business started in Wolves, you'd, um, welcome anything that can be done to encourage people to come in the evening.
10:22Yeah, yeah, there is plenty of parking in Wolves, as you, as you say, but, uh, it is chargeable.
10:27I know there's, um, the Man's Centre car park at the back here have done a deal for Super Bowl, so I think after six o'clock it's only about two quid, I think.
10:36Oh, interesting.
10:36But, to be honest, we're a pub, so I don't really want people driving to the pub, but, obviously, people do come to gigs and there's other people that drink, but, yeah.
10:48So, yeah, but if there is cheaper parking, it all helps, doesn't it?
10:51It all helps.
10:52It all helps.
10:52I think, yeah, I think even with other bars and what are happening in Wolverhampton, if we can open Wolverhampton again to encourage more people to come up, it's not like you're fighting for clients, it's bringing people...
11:03Yeah, definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's making it live again because it used to be fantastic.
11:07Yeah, well, it sounds like what you're going to bring to the City Centre is going to be fantastic, lads, and we look forward to joining you when it's all sparkling and, uh, and finished.
11:16I'll be you and I'm literally close.
11:18Yeah, great stuff. All the best, gents. Thank you.
Recommended
0:26
2:00
2:30
3:07
5:26
4:06
0:18
3:19
Be the first to comment