Media Isle of Man's Adam Morton speaks to former TT rider Milky Quayle about him and his wife's barber and coffee shop venture 'Paramount City' on Douglas Promenade.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Yeah, well, welcome to Paramount City Coffeehouse and Barbers.
00:03It's my wife and myself's dream, I suppose, really.
00:07Yeah, we just...
00:09My wife's a barber, and we've always rented our shops,
00:12and we just thought it's time for us to be our landlord, really.
00:15So for the last 12, 15 years, we've always rented,
00:18so we thought, well, we need to buy a commercial property, really,
00:21so we can be our own landlord.
00:24So, yeah, we used to walk the dog on the beach here.
00:27I used to work here at Paramount City.
00:29I worked here for four years.
00:31I met my wife here at the bar,
00:33just where those girls are stood there now.
00:35So, yeah, we've got a bit of history with the place, you know?
00:38And then we used to walk the dog on the beach,
00:40and we looked at it and thought, oh, isn't it a shame?
00:42It's going to rack and ruin.
00:44So a bit like when you go and have a look at a puppy,
00:46we thought, well, we'll go and have a look at it,
00:48and sure enough, within ten minutes of walking in here, we'd bought it.
00:51So, yeah, so maybe it's a little bit of a midlife crisis, I suppose.
00:55It's been tough. It's been four years, really.
00:58Four years in the going.
01:01We really stretched ourselves to buy it initially,
01:04so we had no real contingency to do anything on it.
01:07So just as we've worked along and got a bit more money,
01:10we've done a little bit more, done a little bit more,
01:12and myself and Lydia, you know, we've done it ourselves as well.
01:15You know, we've not got any contractors or anything in.
01:17We've pretty much done it all ourselves.
01:19So blood, sweat, and tears.
01:21So, yeah, so it's, you know, we made up with it.
01:23It's brilliant. You know, it's nice.
01:25You know, today's obviously the first day it's open,
01:27so, yeah, just, again, we're a bit unsure.
01:31I've never run a coffee shop. I've never run a cafe,
01:33you know, a pizzeria or anything like that,
01:35so I'm very fortunate I've got some good members of staff.
01:38You know, Natty Nathaniel, he's my brother-in-law.
01:40He's running the kitchen. He's a chef.
01:42He's a top pizza chef, so probably, well,
01:44I'm probably going to say he's probably one of the best on the Isle of Man.
01:47So, yeah, so he's our chef, really.
01:50I've got Will, who's a barista, and he's our barista,
01:53so he's looking after all the coffee side of things.
01:55Myself, I'm just cleaning the toilets and mopping the floor, really.
01:58So, yeah, that's my job.
02:00How's the process been, then, to get it ready?
02:02Yeah, it's been real stressful.
02:04I mean, it's one of those things that I think
02:06whenever you set yourself a deadline, you think, yeah,
02:08because if we hadn't have set the deadline,
02:10then we'd just be ambling along again still, you know what I mean?
02:13And so to set a deadline, it gives you, you know,
02:16the push to get on and get done, so we've had, yeah,
02:19the last two weeks have been crazy.
02:21You know, we've had, like, 20-hour days, you know, every night,
02:24so four hours kip, so we are running on empty at the moment,
02:28but, you know, the excitement of opening is keeping us going,
02:32and so, yeah, so we'll probably take a bit of a dip
02:35maybe at Christmas Day or something.
02:37We can have Christmas Day off and try and recharge the batteries,
02:40but, yeah, we're made up with it.
02:42We wanted to keep the ethos of Paramount City
02:44because, like I say, our generation, it's quite an iconic building
02:49and it's, you know, an iconic place.
02:51A lot of people have met here and maybe divorced here as well,
02:54so, yeah, it's got some good memories, hopefully, for lots of people.
02:58I know it has for us, and, you know, that's where we want to try
03:01and keep it that way.
03:07Yeah, honestly, 100%.
03:09You know, I mean, I was driving my bus.
03:11I've still got my day job. I'm still a bus driver.
03:13I was driving my bus last night, and there was people even saying to me,
03:16you know, I can't wait for it to open.
03:18I'm glad someone's doing something with that building.
03:20You know, at the right time, someone did something with it.
03:22So, yeah, we are made up, really.
03:25It's nice to put a little bit of life back into the building again.
03:28I mean, you are only a custodian of a building, aren't you?
03:30You don't own it. You're only a custodian,
03:32and hopefully we're going to spend some happy times here
03:35and keep it going, and then maybe in 20 years' time
03:38someone else can do the same again and keep going.
03:41So, yeah, it's a fantastic place.
03:44I mean, I've never...
03:46This is the first time I've ever lived by the sea,
03:48so I'm a bit of a country bumpkin, really,
03:50and I've never lived by the sea,
03:52but now I'll never move away from the sea.
03:54This view is fantastic.
03:56It's just that...
03:58It's a great spot.
03:59Yeah, they're always going about location, location, location,
04:01and this is prime location.
04:03So, yeah, it's a lovely place to live.
04:06It's going to be a lovely place to work.
04:07Obviously, I haven't got much of a commute now
04:09because obviously I'm just upstairs.
04:11So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.
04:14Great.
04:15What are the open hours going to be like over Christmas?
04:17Have you got any idea?
04:20Yeah, again, open hours and stuff are all a little bit...
04:23It's all a little bit new and fresh to us, really.
04:25So, yeah, but ultimately today we're open from now,
04:28from 12 till 6.
04:29Tomorrow we're going to be open from 8 till 8.
04:32And then I think Christmas Eve we're closing.
04:35Christmas Day, obviously, we're closing.
04:37And I think Boxing Day we're going to open from 10 till 2,
04:39something like that, just a little thing.
04:41So we just need to find our feet a little bit, really,
04:43with everything.
04:44Obviously, we're still waiting for the bar licence.
04:47We've applied for an alcohol licence.
04:49So we're going to have that in the next couple of months,
04:51I would say.
04:52So the main priority was really to get the place open,
04:56get the barbers open, get the cafe open.
04:58And then the next couple of months then we'll get the licence
05:01and we'll be able to serve alcohol as well.
05:03Would you ever say you'd be open to doing functions?
05:05Yes, I think so.
05:06Yeah, definitely.
05:07Again, I want to keep the ethos of the building.
05:09And we actually had one here last Friday night, actually.
05:11It was Abbey's, Liddy's sister's 50th birthday.
05:14So we had a bit of a bash in here to christen it, I suppose.
05:18So, yeah, it's crying out for that side of things.
05:21I mean, that's why I've reinstated all the DJ booth.
05:23You can come and sit in the DJ booth and then that converts back
05:27into a DJ booth when we have a function.
05:29So, you know, it's, yeah, I can't wait to see it.
05:32You know, chocolate.
05:33Yeah, yeah, yeah, really good, really good.
05:35I mean, that's the thing.
05:36It's a multi-purpose building, really.
05:38We've got lots of things going on, a bar, a cafe,
05:40a pizzeria, barbers, you know, and we have actually the room
05:44at the top there that's going to be converted
05:45into a tattoo studio.
05:47So Amber behind the bar there, she's training to do tattoos.
05:50So if she ever wants it, she can have that little room
05:53to do her tattoos as well.
05:54So that would be quite nice, yeah.
05:56Wonderful, that's great.
05:57Good lad, thank you.