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Lawrence and Kezia getting stuck in with the refurbishments
New venue to be the social ‘Hub’ of Ilkley
After over fifteen years of trading, The Yard, Ilkley has been taken over by young, Ilkley couple Lawrence Doyle and Kezia Bellamy, who are transforming the venue into a new, Premium Sports Bar.
The bar that is due to open Friday 31st January is undergoing a considerable refurbishment and will show all major sporting events on both Sky Sports and BT Sports, with an emphasis very much on the ‘Play’ aspect of their ‘Eat, Drink, Play’ concept.
‘Eat’ will include quality, tasty food such as tacos, burritos, wings, burgers and dirty fries. ‘Drink’ will comprise of Craft beers, gins, wines, cocktails, slushies and shakes and the ‘Play’ aspect, in addition to the live sports, will offer a range of entertainment such as pool, shuffleboard, beer pong, soft tip darts, bingo and pub quiz nights.
Lawrence who has worked in a variety of hospitality venues including bars, nightclubs and Rosette restaurants, in various positions from Mixologist to Chef to GM, and Kezia who has also always worked in the industry before, during and after her studies, met seven years ago whilst working in a bar in Liverpool. They were also the well-loved and successful General Manager and Assistant General Manager team at The Ticket Office in Ilkley, until very recently.
The venue’s extensive transformation includes new booth seating, hand-made furniture, by Lawrence and Kezia themselves, (another string to their bow!), brand new bar design and state of the art new audio-visual equipment and screens, designed to heighten the ‘sports’ experience and atmosphere of the bar.
Kezia said “We decided on the name ‘Hub-Vybe’ because we want to become the social ‘Hub’ of Ilkley. The second part of our plans will focus on an exclusive cocktail bar using the venues upstairs space and capitalising on Lawrence’s mixology experience, that will have a different ‘Vibe’ to downstairs. Hence the name.”
“We have watched the Ilkley bar scene change considerably in the time we have been here and noticed a gap in the market for a premium sports bar. We felt The Yard fitted the model fantastically well and jumped at the chance to snap up the venue.”
The couple have a vision to open multiple sites over the next five years with a core team that are invested from the beginning, and through training will become part of the ‘Hub’ family.
Lawrence said: “We’re really excited to be undertaking our very own project and our first business together. After a month of hard work, we cannot wait to be open and show everyone the fantastic results”
Hub-Vybe opens Friday 31st January to the public from 7pm. The venue will continue to open until 3am on a weekend with a brand-new DJ system and resident DJ’s Jack City and James Oliver.
For more information visit www.hub-vybe.co.uk or email info@hub-vybe.co.uk or call 01943609606.