A HOSPITALITY business is hoping to reverse the recent decline in Jersey’s nightlife – which has seen a string of venues closing across town recently – by extending the opening hours of a St Helier bar.
Chambers in Mulcaster Street will close at 2am, an hour later than at present, if the application by venue owner Randalls is approved by the Licensing Assembly at its meeting next month.
The move follows a series of closures of town nightclubs in recent years, including ROJOs last July and Havana at the end of December.
Randalls managing director Gavin Reid admitted that there were “lots of challenges” for operators but he said he believed there was still significant demand for a late-night entertainment.
“I don’t envisage nightclubs opening on Monday or Tuesday nights like they used to, but people want to socialise towards the end of the week and we’ve seen Chambers proving busy up until closing time at 1am,” he said.
“We’ve already got the key infrastructure in place in terms of security and equipment, so would hope we’re well placed to make the change once the necessary permission is in place.”
The application was approved unanimously at a recent St Helier parish assembly and will now be considered at the next meeting of the Licensing Assembly.
Mr Reid said that he hoped it would be possible to bring in the new opening hours by Easter.
“The industry still has restrictions on Good Friday until we can get the new Licensing Law in place, but after that I’d hope we’d be ready to go,” he said.
“The idea would be to book some UK bands and DJs which should prove popular with customers.
“There are lots of challenges for operators and there has been a decline in business early in the week, but I think the Island has a good hospitality industry and this should be a good opportunity to move in a positive direction.”
Mr Reid said the extra hour’s trading was initially likely to be restricted to Friday and Saturday nights, but could be extended in the summer and during the December party season.
The closure of Havana on 22 December followed a string of recent closures including ROJO, WYSIWYG, Ce Soir and Kokos. At the time this left just two nightclub venues operating in St Helier: Vittoria (formerly Mimosa), and The Drift at The Royal Yacht.
