An award-winning high street is set to bolster its offering of shops and pubs with the addition of a new speakeasy bar. The Bottle Bank is set on the site of the former Royal Bank of Scotland in King Street, Belper – a longstanding bank branch that was closed in January 2019 as part of a string of closures across the UK.
The new venue, which will open this weekend, is a result of the hard work and efforts of husband and wife duo, Sam and Kirsty Jackson. The pair were destined to run a pub together ever since meeting more than two decades ago while working at a Wetherspoon in Alfreton.
Together, they hope to bring an alternative choice to the town, which is already full of brilliant traditional pubs, with their new jazz – or speakeasy – bar. Speaking on the decision to start this new venture, Kirsty said: “It’s always been a dream of ours to open a pub of our own and we are so excited to show the people of Belper this new bar.
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“Belper is a brilliant place to drink and shop and we’ve adopted a cosy style with dark paint on the walls and mood lighting, the place currently looks like a building site, but we’ll be ready to handle the hopefully busy crowds on the weekend.”
The Bottle Bank will focus on its wine and looks to offer tasting sessions in the future – and is expecting to have a wine menu with more than 40 different options. However, the Jacksons understand that people like different things, so a strong selection of ales and lagers is also on the cards, something which could prove popular with locals.
The lagers on tap will include Asahi, Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone (lager and cider), Estrella Damm and Peroni. It will also have other ciders and two ale pumps which will be changed frequently, as well as the hallmark of a good pub: Guinness.
If leisurely drinking in a cosy setting wasn’t enough for you, then you’ll be able to venture outside to the rear to sample the atmosphere in the newly-decked, south-facing beer garden – something the workers applying the finishing touches assured me turns into a ‘suntrap’ in the summer months. The bar will also have a small bar upstairs but, more intriguingly, Sam and Kirsty are in the process of developing the former bank vault in the cellar to house even more thirsty visitors.
The Bottle Bank will open its doors for the first time on Sunday, September 8, and will just serve drinks for the first few weeks. Once they’ve settled, the couple hope to fill a gap in the market by serving high-quality steaks which – when served with whiskey or red wine – could be the perfect night out in an already brilliant Derbyshire town.
The bar will be open from 10am to 11pm from Monday to Friday (last orders at 10.30pm) and 11am to 5pm on Sundays. For more details about Belper’s latest bar, click the link here.
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