WE'VE just been for a sneaky peak around Red Door, the new live music venue and cocktail bar that has been built beneath The Botanist on Deansgate.
The interior designers have done a little musical feng shui, making sure the sight lines are perfect for watching the bands
Officially open to the public from Monday 6th June, this cool basement hangout is the result of long discussions between the late Living Ventures boss Tim Bacon and his long-term friend and business partner Dave Hinds.
The opening of Red Door Manchester will be very poignant following the recent tragic passing of the leisure icon. Tim was especially excited about this opening, as it was formerly the location of JW Johnsons, the legendary restaurant, bar and basement club which he founded with Dave in the 90’s.
Tim and entrepreneur Dave met in 1991, coming from very different backgrounds. Back then, Tim was an actor with a sideline in flinging bottles around making cocktails at TGI Fridays, while Dave was a musician who organised gigs and events. They had a fantasy about two bartenders who travelled around the world visiting cool bars, borrowing the best of what they saw, picking up knick-knacks on the way before returning to Manchester and knocking it all together, resulting in something like London’s Troubadour or Ronnie Scotts.
25 years later, Red Door, says Dave, “is the bar we always talked about opening.” Unfortunately Tim never lived to see this dream realised as he died from cancer in April, but he lives on through the Living Ventures brands he built across the country and in the thousands of staff members he meticulously trained.
Although Red Door has other branches in Liverpool and Chester, there is no uniformity. Each Red Door venue has been tailor-made to suit each city and the stylish ambience is sure to be a hit on the Manchester bar scene. A stage, a dance floor and a state of the art music system have been installed to get the best from an eclectic range of live music acts and sets from leading DJs. The interior designers have done a little musical feng shui, making sure the sight lines are perfect for watching the bands.
Pride of place has been given to the ‘Red Door’, a piece of art that Tim used to have in his house, created by one of his favourite local artists, Jamie Green, who went on to do a lot of the artwork in Artisan.
The venue occupies 2800 sq ft and has a capacity of 200. Red Door will be open 5pm-2am, Sunday-Thursday, and until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays. The strong musical focus aims to support new local talent as well as established bands, and fans might even get the opportunity to attend secret gigs and album launches. On other evenings DJ’s will pay a cool mix of tunes including R&B, disco, soul and rock.
There is no food offering, but with the Red Door motto of ‘changing the world one drink at a time’, the after work crowd can enjoy a cocktail, a cool beer or a shot or two of premium spirits in the bar until the lights gets lower and the music gets louder.
Many people have fond memories of JW Johnsons and Dave feels that the opening of Red Door means the story has come full circle. They have created a space where new stories can be told, new bands can be discovered and new memories can be made.
Red Door opens to the public on Monday 6 June - reddoor.uk.com
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