The team behind NQ elders, Castle Hotel and Gullivers, are back and they're getting ready to re-invent The Lloyds perched on Chorlton's Wilbraham Road.
Jonny Booth and Rupert Hill are once again teaming up with JW Lees Brewery to 'transform the fortunes' of this suburban stalwart and bring it in line with their other two music venue sites.
Speaking of South Manchester institution, Jonny said: "We’ve been after this site for years and I’ve finally convinced Lees to move it back out of their managed estate and give it to us! First jobs on the list are to curate a jukebox and sort the drinks offer out!
"Rupert and I have been away doing ventures separately for some time but The Castle and Gullivers are super close to our hearts, so we had a conversation and decided it was time to come back together and in exactly the same spirit that we opened The Castle with, way back in April 2009, 15 years almost to the day, to open the pub that we want to hang in our own neighbourhood in Chorlton. There was a real honesty in what we were doing back then and it feels great to be getting back to that and to be working together once more to make a real creative and cultural community hub."
Rupert carried on: "From day one, we’ve found this shared passion for taking weary and underperforming pubs with bags of potential and breathing new life into them, bringing them back into the community, creating places that people love to be in. It’s always felt like a worthwhile endeavour."
The team, who were also behind Chorlton legend The Parlour, will be looking at returning the original name of Lloyd and Platt as it was when the pub was built in 1870 and working more closely with the bowling team that has also been in existence at the site since it was built.
Punters can look forward to a transformation of the previous 'somewhat drab' function room into an events space worthy of the city centre, playing host to live music, cinema, literary, comedy and DJ events. The space will also be available to hire as a private bar for any event you can find a reason to celebrate.
To compliment this there will be a range of things to occupy customers while having a drink or pre/post event, such as shuffleboard, darts and a large selection of board games, along with a more family friendly offer to reflect where Jonny and Rupert are in their lives, with various after school, weekend and holiday events to take place in the venue.
"We’ll be taking a cautious approach to any kind of food offer given that, in the current climate, food has become such a difficult thing to profitably deliver, with loads of our old favourites falling by the wayside." Jonny explained. "We’re looking into a few potential options from rotating pop ups to something akin to the coffee shop model. We’re obviously immensely proud of what we achieved at The Parlour but we won’t be repeating it.
"It was of its time and times have changed too significantly and we feel that some things are best kept as great memories rather than trying to create a pastiche of what was. Obviously The Parlour was close to our hearts and we’ll still be approaching Lloyd & Platt with that same energy to create a great place to hang out with the same great vibes, but music and creativity has always been central for us and getting back to our roots is where we’re at now, so the emphasis will be back on delivering great entertainment in a great space with great drinks."
Rubert continued: "Both Jonny and I are now non-drinkers so we’ll be working to bring a great AF offer, events and fun activities to welcome all the non-drinkers among us.
"The almost cult status that we’ve managed to grow with The Castle and Gullivers is such a genuine honour and point of pride and it’s amazing to have this opportunity to bring some of that to Chorlton in such a brilliant site."
Jonny added: "These places have got so much history and soul and stories baked into the walls and you have to get to know them. We’ve got 5 months in the run up to the refurb to make ourselves at home and live in the space so we can figure out what’s going to work."
The new team started their takeover on April 1st and will open on April 4th with a short closure period.