The bar and club in Ward’s End (next to The Orange Tree) opens its doors to the public on Monday December 17th.
The 240-capacity venue features a ground-floor bar and dance floor, and a more intimate first-floor bar with cosy seating, along with a roof-top terrace garden at the rear.
Previously The Newshouse, the premises have been transformed by the Orange Tree Group to create a venue featuring quirky furniture and décor, and based on a style that’s reminiscent of the speakeasy bars of the American ‘20s.
Cocktails, as you would expect, will be a speciality at The Kelso, which will be open from 9pm until 2am between December 17th and 19th, 9pm to 3am on Thursday December 20th, 5pm to 4am on Friday December 21st, 9pm to 4am on Saturday December 22nd, 9pm to 2am on Sunday December 23rd and 5pm to 3am on Christmas Eve.
It will also be open after Christmas from Thursday 27th – with a New Year’s Eve party planned from 8pm to 4am.
Managing director of the Orange Tree Group Gareth Smith said: “We’ve worked hard to create a late night venue which we hope will bring something completely different to the social scene of Loughborough. Something that we believe is strongly missing.
“We have scoured the country for over a year to create an eclectic mix of modern and old materials to give an intimate, yet striking style to The Kelso, and we’re delighted to be offering something unique to the town.”
The Kelso is the second late-night venue opened by the Orange Tree Group, and follows the refurbishment and launch of The Basement in Leicester last year.
Gareth, who is involved with the Loughborough Retail Initiative in the Ward’s End area, hopes that The Kelso will be a welcome asset not just to the town but to the particular area of Loughborough too.
“We are aiming to appeal to a wide range of people who enjoy good music and want to indulge themselves in a brand new hedonistic experience for Loughborough,” he added.
“The name was chosen because it sounded right and it sounds abstract enough to allow people to overlay their own interpretation.”
As part of the refurbishment of the building, original features such as fireplaces, panelling and oak beams have been reinstated.
The Kelso plans to open five nights a week from 9pm in the New Year. Its music style will be vintage, to include soul, funk, indie, R and B, reggae, ska and other genres.
The venue is also available for private hire.
Since 1998, the Orange Tree Group has operated the The Orange Tree pub next door to The Kelso in Loughborough. It opened the venue a year after launching The Orange Tree in Leicester. This was followed by the O Bar in Leicester in 2001. The group’s Orange Tree in Nottingham opened in October 2003, followed by The Lansdowne in Leicester in December 2004.
The independent pub group was founded by Ben Hings and Gareth Smith in October 1997.
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Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk
