Old Blue Last operator expands
The venue management company, which has not been given a name and is headed by Martin Wade Thomas, is to open a “multi-purpose” bar called the Stillery in Camden this month, featuring club nights, live music and kitchen residencies.
Ross Allmark, who heads up events and marketing for the venture, told M&C Report that a further site has been secured in Haggerston for a cocktail bar to open later this year.
He said further outlets would be sought if they fit the group’s plans for “interesting” venues.
Regarding the reason for securing a site in Camden, Allmark said it’s an area of London that “people have sort of forgotten about”
“They’ve stopped opening new places. That to us is a little bit ridiculous when you’ve got too many bars in east London all cannibalising the same trade.”
The management team operates Birthdays in Dalston, the Windsor Castle in Clapton and the Old Blue Last. The latter venue is majority owned by music and lifestyle magazine Vice.
Each venue is held as a separate limited company and the management team take a management fee.
“It’s quite a nice way of working,” said Allmark. “Rather than becoming a pubco, we’re more of a management team. We work on different projects and with different people. They are all very distinct and it doesn’t feel like a chain in any way.”
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