Last updated at 12:07, Monday, 11 March 2013

The former Party Party bar in Carlisle is to reopen as a late night venue creating between 10 and 14 new jobs.

Ben Read

Ben Read, who already runs The Office, has bought the prominent Botchergate venue.

It will reopen with a VIP night on March 28 and will be called The Church.

It will have a blue and black colour scheme and will feature a bar and dance floor. It won’t serve food.

Mr Read, 29, said: “It will be late-night venue and it’s something that Carlisle needs – but people have to support it.

“I love the building and I chose the name because it’s something different – quirky and cool.”

Mr Read used to run Party Party between December 2010 and November 2011.

He said: “I now run The Office and that is going so well. We had our first rock night there this week and when the opportunity came up for the former Party Party building I couldn’t refuse. The Office and its success has made my new venture possible.”

Mr Read, who travelled to Blackpool last week to buy furniture for The Church, says nightlife in Carlisle is not what it once was and that bars have, on average, a shelf life of about three years.

He said: “Places like Walkabout, Lloyds and Unit all deserve credit for what they do.

“We need to get people back on Botchergate.”

Office customers who buy a drink there will get a discount for The Church as it will have an entry fee.

Party Party opened in late 2008 after benefiting from £250,000 overhaul from the club’s previous incarnation the Litten Tree. It shut in January 2012 after holding a closing down sale.

Weird and wonderful items such as bar stools, pictures, tables and sinks were auctioned off before it closed.

The Church now has its own Facebook and Twitter sites.

See Thursday’s News & Star for information on how you can win tickets to the opening VIP night.

First published at 11:44, Monday, 11 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk