Businessman hopes to turn around Blackburn's night life

AN EAST Lancashire barman is looking to turn Blackburn’s night life around when he opens a new town centre bar on Sunday (Aug 12).

Andy Walker, 27, has got high hopes for Baroque, which he plans will provide a safe and friendly atmosphere to have a good night out.

The bar, located in Northgate, has been closed for the past 12 months, but will reopen with a special VIP celebration to draw in some new business.

Andy, who also works in the travel industry, has been involved in running pubs since he was 18. He got his landlord’s license when he was 19, which is unusually young.

Baroque is now owned by Alan Brownridgen and Paula Baxter of P&A Ltd and Andy will be running the pub, which will be open seven days a week.

Andy, who has also helped to transform pubs in Chorley and Preston, said he had been carrying out some market research to find out what people in Blackburn wanted.

He said: “It is going to be really nice, we have gone for a casual look and have pictures of the local area around the pub.

“I think Blackburn needs a bit of life sprucing back into it.

“I want to make this work, make it profitable and make it a good place to go for a night out.”

Andy said he was hoping to work in partnership with other bars and clubs to provide students nights, which he hoped would rejuvinate the town centre.

He said: “I want to turn the nightlife in Blackburn around.

“All you see is pubs shutting down these days, but I want there to be something good in the town.

“It is about creating something that that we don’t not really get in Blackburn, the town just needs something different.”

Comments(15)

outofyourmind says...
4:02am Sun 12 Aug 12

I realy dont get where this going?. For a start no ones got a job and those that do are on minium wage. And those that have lots of cash ,thay go else ware to party.( its not about one pub its a enviroment !).
Whats wrong ill tell you whats wrong thay pulled down the only reson people came to blackburn. And that was peps! and had no new provision made for peps two?. All because the brain dead middle class though thay would tidy up the place and make blackburn boreing!. But the di*kheads didnt realize, its the grittyness of blackburn that made it attractive to the night birds. Its the thrill the danger and the seedyness that the kids like.( eg .a place their parants wouldnt go too?, "we all get rush out of little danger" ).
The thing that does my headin his the fact, All the so called inteligent people cann't see this. The councils crying about loss of profts and towns value, when the town planners screw the place up in the first place?? And they get payed still ???.
blackburns Dead and it cant be reserected ( Its to spread out to dull and to expencive ), killed the sole, sold down the river of political correctness.
( Note to Andy your first failed enterprize! good luck your credibillty is on the line! ) My advice to you is,to;- ( RUN ) eg:- let people smoke in pubs, refinish 4 pubs two clubs and put it all in square setting with food and street life?!.( create the enviroment ) That would be a start then you could put up the minimum wage to £9.87 phr and you ll rake it in!!.
Full 8 days and nights a week. up to you?.
HeathNuts dont drink dont smoke and dont go out, (theirs only so much you need to know about carrots!) carefull!, or we all end up liveing in a town like blackburn is now? " towns an citys be warned, dont get (blackburned) " regards an luck

Thankgodimoutofit says...
7:34am Sun 12 Aug 12

outofyourmind wrote:
I realy dont get where this going?. For a start no ones got a job and those that do are on minium wage. And those that have lots of cash ,thay go else ware to party.( its not about one pub its a enviroment !).
Whats wrong ill tell you whats wrong thay pulled down the only reson people came to blackburn. And that was peps! and had no new provision made for peps two?. All because the brain dead middle class though thay would tidy up the place and make blackburn boreing!. But the di*kheads didnt realize, its the grittyness of blackburn that made it attractive to the night birds. Its the thrill the danger and the seedyness that the kids like.( eg .a place their parants wouldnt go too?, "we all get rush out of little danger" ).
The thing that does my headin his the fact, All the so called inteligent people cann't see this. The councils crying about loss of profts and towns value, when the town planners screw the place up in the first place?? And they get payed still ???.
blackburns Dead and it cant be reserected ( Its to spread out to dull and to expencive ), killed the sole, sold down the river of political correctness.
( Note to Andy your first failed enterprize! good luck your credibillty is on the line! ) My advice to you is,to;- ( RUN ) eg:- let people smoke in pubs, refinish 4 pubs two clubs and put it all in square setting with food and street life?!.( create the enviroment ) That would be a start then you could put up the minimum wage to £9.87 phr and you ll rake it in!!.
Full 8 days and nights a week. up to you?.
HeathNuts dont drink dont smoke and dont go out, (theirs only so much you need to know about carrots!) carefull!, or we all end up liveing in a town like blackburn is now? " towns an citys be warned, dont get (blackburned) " regards an luck
Are you foreign or just illiterate?

A lot more time practicing your spelling and punctuation is needed before posting anymore meaningless waffle. It gave me headache just trying to understand what you where saying (when I had finished laughing).
I have had pets that could write more coherently than you.
Must try harder.

happycyclist says...
10:48am Sun 12 Aug 12

Thankgodimoutofit wrote:
outofyourmind wrote:
I realy dont get where this going?. For a start no ones got a job and those that do are on minium wage. And those that have lots of cash ,thay go else ware to party.( its not about one pub its a enviroment !).
Whats wrong ill tell you whats wrong thay pulled down the only reson people came to blackburn. And that was peps! and had no new provision made for peps two?. All because the brain dead middle class though thay would tidy up the place and make blackburn boreing!. But the di*kheads didnt realize, its the grittyness of blackburn that made it attractive to the night birds. Its the thrill the danger and the seedyness that the kids like.( eg .a place their parants wouldnt go too?, "we all get rush out of little danger" ).
The thing that does my headin his the fact, All the so called inteligent people cann't see this. The councils crying about loss of profts and towns value, when the town planners screw the place up in the first place?? And they get payed still ???.
blackburns Dead and it cant be reserected ( Its to spread out to dull and to expencive ), killed the sole, sold down the river of political correctness.
( Note to Andy your first failed enterprize! good luck your credibillty is on the line! ) My advice to you is,to;- ( RUN ) eg:- let people smoke in pubs, refinish 4 pubs two clubs and put it all in square setting with food and street life?!.( create the enviroment ) That would be a start then you could put up the minimum wage to £9.87 phr and you ll rake it in!!.
Full 8 days and nights a week. up to you?.
HeathNuts dont drink dont smoke and dont go out, (theirs only so much you need to know about carrots!) carefull!, or we all end up liveing in a town like blackburn is now? " towns an citys be warned, dont get (blackburned) " regards an luck
Are you foreign or just illiterate?

A lot more time practicing your spelling and punctuation is needed before posting anymore meaningless waffle. It gave me headache just trying to understand what you where saying (when I had finished laughing).
I have had pets that could write more coherently than you.
Must try harder.
It's a comment on a news story, not a final exam for a degree in English Language. Forget the spelling and grammar; the points made are all valid.

123Jon123 says...
11:51am Sun 12 Aug 12

Thankgodimoutofit wrote:
outofyourmind wrote:
I realy dont get where this going?. For a start no ones got a job and those that do are on minium wage. And those that have lots of cash ,thay go else ware to party.( its not about one pub its a enviroment !).
Whats wrong ill tell you whats wrong thay pulled down the only reson people came to blackburn. And that was peps! and had no new provision made for peps two?. All because the brain dead middle class though thay would tidy up the place and make blackburn boreing!. But the di*kheads didnt realize, its the grittyness of blackburn that made it attractive to the night birds. Its the thrill the danger and the seedyness that the kids like.( eg .a place their parants wouldnt go too?, "we all get rush out of little danger" ).
The thing that does my headin his the fact, All the so called inteligent people cann't see this. The councils crying about loss of profts and towns value, when the town planners screw the place up in the first place?? And they get payed still ???.
blackburns Dead and it cant be reserected ( Its to spread out to dull and to expencive ), killed the sole, sold down the river of political correctness.
( Note to Andy your first failed enterprize! good luck your credibillty is on the line! ) My advice to you is,to;- ( RUN ) eg:- let people smoke in pubs, refinish 4 pubs two clubs and put it all in square setting with food and street life?!.( create the enviroment ) That would be a start then you could put up the minimum wage to £9.87 phr and you ll rake it in!!.
Full 8 days and nights a week. up to you?.
HeathNuts dont drink dont smoke and dont go out, (theirs only so much you need to know about carrots!) carefull!, or we all end up liveing in a town like blackburn is now? " towns an citys be warned, dont get (blackburned) " regards an luck
Are you foreign or just illiterate?

A lot more time practicing your spelling and punctuation is needed before posting anymore meaningless waffle. It gave me headache just trying to understand what you where saying (when I had finished laughing).
I have had pets that could write more coherently than you.
Must try harder.
Surely you mean a headache? I'm naturally more interested in these super pets you appear to have had that can write. What did they write about?

Reality50 says...
12:18pm Sun 12 Aug 12

The smoking ban and high alcohol prices in pubs not to mention the rising violence rate in many pubs has all but killed the pub trade.Most 18-30S these days do other things rather than go down the pub and older people find most bars these days don't cater for their needs.Cerainly the 30-49 age group who in many cases have free time to seek entertainment are completely ignored by the pub and club industry.I would love to go to a decent bar at a weekend for over 30's but few exist and certainly not in Lancashire they do not.My message to entrepreneurs is target the 30s and 40s age group because there is money to be made if you keep the beer prices competitive.The Reflex bars in Bolton and Preston do well and are aimed at older people.

Angry Bob says...
6:13pm Sun 12 Aug 12

Reality50 wrote:
The smoking ban and high alcohol prices in pubs not to mention the rising violence rate in many pubs has all but killed the pub trade.Most 18-30S these days do other things rather than go down the pub and older people find most bars these days don't cater for their needs.Cerainly the 30-49 age group who in many cases have free time to seek entertainment are completely ignored by the pub and club industry.I would love to go to a decent bar at a weekend for over 30's but few exist and certainly not in Lancashire they do not.My message to entrepreneurs is target the 30s and 40s age group because there is money to be made if you keep the beer prices competitive.The Reflex bars in Bolton and Preston do well and are aimed at older people.
Blackburn's night life is beyond repair. Trying to restore it to it's "former glory" would be like digging up a corpse and working on it with a defibrillator.

Save your money and spend it on something that doesn't resemble a swamp.

peely says...
10:23pm Sun 12 Aug 12

The old Cavendish club & The Mecca were the best that Blackburn ever had, sadly those days are long gone and I feel so lucky to have been around when they were the places to go to. I genuinely feel sorry for the kids of today.

ste.g says...
12:10am Mon 13 Aug 12

went downhill when top hat closed

me pete says...
2:39am Mon 13 Aug 12

Top Hat ahhhhh forgot to mention.
Sutties
Rovers Return
Mr Gs
Sett End
Peps
Loved them all.....
What has happened to our town

me pete says...
2:40am Mon 13 Aug 12

Top Hat ahhhhh forgot to mention.
Sutties
Rovers Return
Mr Gs
Sett End
Peps
Loved them all.....
What has happened to our town

Bacupbloke says...
6:53am Mon 13 Aug 12

Facts to remember:
1. You may have noticed that East Lancashire gets a lot of rain.
2. Local people like to smoke so they don't want to stand outside a pub and get wet. The labour party have helped to close some of the worst dirty, smelly old-fasioned alehouses and dives. The pubs that survive cater for families whowant a restaurant meal not just pork scratchings.
3.All the northwest towns are in decline and people save their cash. Gordon Brown's escalator tax on beer was the nail in the coffin. Why not complain to your local Labour MP.

abbo01 says...
10:50am Mon 13 Aug 12

Fair play to this lad for trying to do something good for the town
I presume it's his money so who cares if it doesn't work. I used to live in Blackburn and had the best time on a weekend going around town when it was booming. It's nothing to do with the smoking ban, there has been 2 bars/bistros open up near where I live. Blackburn has suffered with the recession and a lot of people just don't have the cash to go out and pay £3.50+ for a drink but a few bars aimed at the over 30's might be good. With a smart/casual dress code and professional doormen could work.

I wish this lad all the best and I hope to visit baroque when I visit my friends and family

Black Car Guy. says...
5:57pm Mon 13 Aug 12

Good luck with the venture. I have not been in Blackburn for years. Well Postal Order and that is it really. No where else to go.

Carl_24 says...
9:17pm Mon 13 Aug 12

That's all we need more doss houses for chavs.
What we need is a new ce la vie. :D

Paul The Octopus Lives! says...
9:37pm Mon 13 Aug 12

Question: What time is Baroque opening in the morning and serving alcohol from?

Answer: 9.00 am

Says it all!

Oh and message to Thankgodimoutofit - next time you mock somebody's spelling and grammar make sure you know when to use "where" and "were." Idiot! By the way, Grammar is not your Dad's Mum.

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