New clubs and bars to be built at Barbican
Building work on a new club, bar and restaurant development at the Barbican centre in Fishergate, just minutes from the University of York campus, is due to begin on December 4.
The plans, which are thought likely to please students, have been met with opposition from local residents. Concerns have been expressed that the development will constitute a ‘superclub’, which may have a detrimental effect on the area.
Dave Taylor, the Green Party Councillor for Fishergate ward, said: “Certainly the potential is there because the licences have been afforded to Absolute Leisure by the council. They’ve got every licence they could wish to open a very large drinking den until the early hours of the morning.”
Absolute Leisure, the club and bar operator that also runs the Floating Nightclub in Gateshead in Newcastle, deny allegations from local residents’ group Save Our Barbican that the development will constitute a ‘superclub’.
However, a spokesman for Absolute Leisure said that the facility will include “a multifunctional venue which will have a number of bars and restaurants as well as a live music venue which can also be used for club nights.”
Absolute Leisure, who run several clubs and venues across the north-east of England, say that the venue will “be used for seminars, conferences and dances as well as for smaller concerts and local events” and that they “intend to offer food, drink and a meeting place during the day and late into the night.”
Their stated aim, they say, is to “bring in more entertainment” and “create a venue with activities to suit people of all ages.”
Absolute Life, a student-oriented club night company based in London and Newcastle and not affiliated to Absolute Leisure, has been brought in to plan the student club night.
Missy Christey and Hannah Martin, third-year students, are working with Absolute Life to plan the student nights at the Barbican centre.
“The club night is going to happen once a week for students,” said Christey. “Provisionally they’re saying a capacity of 3,000 for the main room, and there’s going to be a VIP area upstairs as well.
“Because of the very big capacity, we’re not actually going to aim to have that many people in, so there will be things like jacuzzis and a bouncy castle and those types of things to fill it up,” said Christey.
Absolute Leisure, working with the Barbican Venture York Ltd trust, who bought the site from the local council, are investing £2.5 million in refurbishing the complex, which was originally built to house swimming pools and a concert hall.
However, local residents have expressed anger about the fact that their views on the development were not consulted by the council prior to permission for the project being given.
Save Our Barbican, a local pressure group founded by Dr. John Issitt, the provost of Langwith College, have expressed their displeasure with the way the council has handled the bid, accusing them of “spin and truth-twisting” and “breathtaking arrogance”.
Adrian
This is great for the local population, all we need is more drunk students on our streets at 2 and 3am in the morning.
What about the 50 top class concerts a year that Absolute Leisure were supposed to hold, my guess is once they have the drinks licence they need to run nightclubs, they can put two fingers up to the York residents.