Blackpool's newest bar Tommy Cutler's will offer customers an expensive experience at cheap prices

Blackpool Gazette

The manager of a new bar undergoing a £300,000 renovation says he is excited to offer customers ‘an expensive experience at cheap prices’.  Entertainer David Cross has worked at the Connelly’s Family Bar next door to the new Tommy Cutler’s bar in Blackpool for years.   So when the owners said they wanted to launch a new venture next door and he was to be the manager he jumped at the opportunity.   Mr Cross, 43, will run the new Tommy Cutlers Bar in Foxhall Road.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, so just to start off with a bit of information about you, so what's your name and what's

00:07your position going to be at the club as well?

00:10So my name's David, David Cross, and I'm going to be the new manager at Tommy Cutler's Bar,

00:15which is next door to the new Philly on Foxhill Road, central Blackpool, near Central Pier.

00:21Are you local to Blackpool, where do you live?

00:24Originally not, I was born and raised in Birmingham, but I've lived in Blackpool for 20 years now,

00:30I live here with my wife and young child, so I know the area well, I've worked in Blackpool

00:35for many, many years, so yeah, in the entertainment industry actually, so the pool trade is something

00:42that's a little bit newer to me, but we're excited about it.

00:45What specific road are you down to share, if you're not comfortable?

00:48Where I live?

00:49Yeah.

00:50Well it's near Ginn Square, so North Shore.

00:52Right.

00:53Yeah, that's where I'm from, yeah.

00:55How old are you sir?

00:56I'm 43 years young, yeah.

00:59So, what was your reaction when you saw that this, I suppose next door, was available to turn into the bar

01:10and buy that opportunity for yourself?

01:12Yeah, so I've got a good working relationship with the people that have the Philly, the new Philly that own this,

01:18so it's the same owners as next door, so I've worked here at the Philly for about five years,

01:27so the owner approached me and asked me if I'd be interested in managing the new bar,

01:31which was the first I'd heard that it was a done deal.

01:34Yeah, very excited and I think it can only help the local area, especially this end of town,

01:39I think the more bars we can get here and things to encourage people down, it can only be a good thing,

01:45so yeah, I'm excited for it, yeah.

01:48So, how's it all been going, how's the process been going to set it all up?

01:58As with any big project, I mean, it was the Jack Russell before was the pub,

02:03so it's literally been gutted from, everything's been taken out completely,

02:08so it's stripped right back to bare brick and then we're starting again,

02:11so the owners have got a very clear vision in mind of how they want the bar to be,

02:16how it can be perceived, so it's going to be quite bougie is the word I suppose that we're looking for,

02:21so quite trendy, tricky, so yeah, and as with any big project like that,

02:26some weeks it goes very rapidly and you see massive changes,

02:30other weeks it can seem that not much has been done or you're relying on a lot of moving parts,

02:34your workmen and things and work loads, but we're on schedule, we think at the moment,

02:41so it was the back end of August, last week in August, fingers crossed.

02:46Yeah, so you said that the owners have a very specific vision of what they want the pub to be like, what is that vision?

02:52I think they want it to be something where everybody's welcome into the bar,

02:56it's an over-18s venue, whereas this, it's the next door to the Phillies, our family venue,

03:01so I think what we're aiming for is within the whole site is to cater for everybody,

03:06so from families, obviously we've got the over-18s bar next door,

03:10which will be a little bit more cocktail orientated, tapas sort of menu,

03:14then upstairs we have our sports bar, which obviously we show all the football and things like that,

03:19and we have an events room at the back as well, which is free to hire,

03:22so we're sort of trying to open ourselves up to every kind of customer, every client base,

03:29so everybody will be welcome, but I think specifically for next door,

03:33we want to offer that sort of next level of drink and food and service, if that makes sense,

03:41so if people want that, then that's where they'll come, so that's our aim,

03:45but like I say, everybody's welcome, we have different ranges of food and products and things,

03:51so hopefully it's something for everybody, and the views upstairs are absolutely stunning across the water,

03:56which I'll gladly take you to have a look at in a minute.

04:00So you talked a little bit about cocktail spots, what kind of drinks, what's going to be on the menu?

04:06So, ranging cocktails, we'll have some signature ones that are just obviously tailored towards our own branding,

04:13and then the normal ones that you can expect, your martinis, cosmopolitans, things like that, the fish bowls,

04:20we've got a lot of good sponsors for the breweries and things,

04:22so we'll be seeing a lot of AU vodka and things like that in there,

04:26and Prosecco, we've got a young guy called TJ that's going to come along and hopefully do some cocktail work for us,

04:34who can do all the juggling and shaking and bits and bobs,

04:37so we want it to be a bit of an experience, if you ask for a cocktail you can see it'll be made fresh in front of you,

04:43all the garnish is fresh and everything, so you can have all that with a bit of tapas, you can sit with the nice views,

04:48or if there's a group of lads and they just want to wander in for a couple of beers on a stag do or whatever,

04:55that's what we aim at, everybody's welcome, but we're going to offer things in that bar that we don't necessarily offer in this bar,

05:02if that makes sense.

05:03Are you trying to open it up to everyone?

05:04Yeah, I think so, yeah.

05:06Get their experience of what they want?

05:08Yeah, 100%, and learn from that, I think we'll be very customer focused,

05:12so we'll be asking them questions on their experience, how they've found it, what they'd like to see being introduced,

05:18we try and open it up, as you know these days social media is massive, so we're on Instagram and everything like that,

05:22so we'll be asking for a lot of feedback and photos and things they want to see,

05:26we'll be running competitions, special offers for locals, all that sort of business, yeah.

05:32How important do you think that having a new business open on this side of the South Shore?

05:39Yeah, Central, yeah, yeah, yeah.

05:41Is for the surrounding area?

05:44I think it's massive, I think any business opening, whether it be a bar or a shop or anything,

05:51it's massive, it brings job opportunities for A, it's another attraction for people to come to this end of town,

05:57and not only for us, if they get into the bar spending, they're going to need taxis,

06:01they're going to need things from the shop, they might need cigarettes or vapes or whatever,

06:04so it's only going to help all the surrounding businesses too,

06:07so yeah, we're always fully supportive of wanting people to open up business around us,

06:12and a healthy competition is good competition, so that's good.

06:17So, what was your, how did it feel taking on this venture, of the pool next door?

06:34Yeah, excited about it really, I think it's going to be really positive for the area,

06:39it's going to be a nice inviting environment for people to come to,

06:43and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it and driving it and getting people in and enjoying themselves,

06:48and hopefully spending their money with us, and relaying that on their social medias,

06:53I'm excited basically to get involved and stuck in.

06:57What would success look like for the bar next door when it's open for everyone then?

07:04What was that, sorry?

07:06What would success look like for that bar?

07:08What would success look like?

07:11Obviously the busier the better, but I think to be honest the reputation building,

07:15and building up of the brand and people recognising it's a safe environment to come to,

07:20with a good product, a good price, and they can have a comfortable evening,

07:25so I think that would be successful, obviously social media is massive, so it's a push on there,

07:30we are planning a bit of a VIP soft launch, so we can invite some friends and get some feedback,

07:37and I think to be honest, because we're a locally based company,

07:41we're not just depending on our holiday makers, we want to encourage the locals to feel like they can come,

07:46and it's for them too, so I think success for us on that front would be that the local community feel like it's a good place,

07:54and if they're owning B&Bs or whatever, they're telling their guests about us,

07:59and just word of mouth on the street that it's a nice place to come to, and vice versa,

08:02I think it's important that we all work together.

08:05What are the prices like for various locations?

08:08Just varies really, we find that our pricing is more than competitive with local bars,

08:16and we get a lot of feedback from our customers that they're quite shocked how cheap we are in certain parts,

08:24but again it ranges, so it depends what you're buying, it's the same as everything,

08:27so we offer something for everybody basically, whatever their budget, what they're looking to spend,

08:34as long as they're having a good time, then that's it, we offer everything to everybody.

08:39Do you have a specific date for when you're thinking of opening, or is it still up in the air?

08:45We have a date in mind, but as I mentioned before, with the magnitude of the rebuild,

08:53obviously there's still things that are happening, but we're hopeful for the end of August,

08:58I think that's an achievable opening time, but as soon as we have a fixed date,

09:03we'll announce it, we'll shout it from the rooftops, and we'll let everybody know about it.

09:08Perfect.

09:09Yeah, thank you.

09:10This is going to be our main venue here, the main room in the venue,

09:13and we're also going to be knocking through this part of the wall here,

09:16so it'll lead through into the little bar that we just did the interview in,

09:19next door that's having a refurb as well, there'll be a little stage area over here,

09:23where our performers will be and our DJs and things,

09:26we're going to have some TVs, plasma TVs around the room,

09:30over there will be our selfie wall with our signage on,

09:33so you can grab yourself a selfie and tag yourself on our Instagram

09:36and with a chance of winning some monthly prizes and things.

09:40This is our bar, which we're particularly excited about because it's going to look absolutely stunning,

09:45when it's done all this will be stainless steel around the bottom,

09:48and there'll be some uplights and everything as they'll be around in the roof,

09:51so it'll be lit up and be a really nice ambience, that's going to be our main entrance over there.

09:56Then we've got the nice bar area, we're going to have our cocktail station,

09:59because we're going to be serving lots and lots of fresh cocktails with fresh garnish and fresh ingredients,

10:03with our cocktail waiter TJ that's going to be coming along and doing that,

10:06so get yourselves down, you can see him doing all the juggling and all that bits and bobs.

10:09We're having our pumps put in very soon, they're due to go in the next couple of days,

10:13all the cellar has been completed downstairs, so we'll have our cocktail station,

10:18we've got a glass shelving at the back which we'll have some drinks on obviously,

10:22and up to the top where it starts curving around,

10:24it's going to be almost like a fake bookcase effect but with bottles,

10:27so there'll be empty ones but it gives the effect of it curving over.

10:31We've got disabled toilets, we'll have a disabled access as well with a ramp obviously,

10:36and our disabled toilets will be downstairs, fire exit at the back,

10:40and if you want to follow me to my favourite part,

10:43just watch your step here Luke, and go up the stairs,

10:46because you want to see these views, absolutely stunning.

10:50So we're going to walk around the stairs, there'll be glass balustrades all the way up here obviously,

10:53so it'll be nice and safe and all around here.

10:56There'll be a nice chandelier hanging from here hopefully when that arrives,

10:59as you can see there's still bits of rubble and bits are still in the process.

11:04As you come up here, this will be like a little sort of lounge where you can come and relax,

11:10again with some drinks, some wine, some cocktails, a bit of tapas,

11:14bits of through in the back, and then if you come round here just be very careful Luke with your footing.

11:21I just want to show you this view of our beautiful black pool in it's all of her glory.

11:27So you can sit here, there'll be a nice glass balustrade, a little sort of Juliet balcony here,

11:31so you can sit and enjoy your cocktails with your partners and look across that beautiful ocean there,

11:38and have a cup of tea, there we go.

11:41Stunning views, sit back and relax in a lovely environment,

11:46so we hope to see you all down here at Tommy Cutler's and the opening date is to be announced very, very soon.

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