As we officially opened 18th Jan 2020 (with a cheeky, pre-opening ticketed event on the 17th Jan), it doesn't take a maths genius to realise that this week The Crooked Crow Bar turns 2 years old!
So this week, whilst we sip Bacardi like it's our birthday, we will be reminiscing about some of the EPIC nights we have had at The Crooked Crow Bar so far, as well as taking a sneaky peak at the awesome events that we have coming up.
A quick squizz down memory lane...!
We had left our old gaff at the end of November 2019 and as there was so much memorabilia that we couldn't bring ourselves to leave behind (and not one of us had a garage that had room to store a pool table, old church pews, a massive bust of a police commissioner and a truck load of old furniture and pictures), getting the keys to a new unit was suddenly URGENT!
Luckily we quickly secured the lease on our new home, an empty Blockbuster Video unit in the precinct and work to get our bar up and running could commence.
Getting everything ready to launch so quickly meant that we had no idea what to expect! But luckily, despite us launching mid-January and the weather being typically awful, our weekend events were busy, people queuing to get a look at Leighton's new events bar!
Those early days of The Crooked Crow, seem a life time ago now. We formed fabulous alliances... We already had an amazing team of staff and we were beginning to gather an awesome gaggle of regular performers and customers! But other alliances, like our brilliant local suppliers and fantastic contractors (Emmendare) who were constantly on hand with our never-ending list of works, StudioMaster, who were solely responsible for helping lift The Crooked Crow Bar from being a bar that hosted a bit of music, to being a venue, by endorsing us and providing us with top of the range sound equipment and organisers & promoters like The Hip Hop Lounge and Gazza Records, with whom we have gone on to host absolutely mind blowing events with.
We still had a To Do list as long as our arm and were trying to catch up with ourselves. We hosted gigs every Friday and Saturday night and began our Sunday Vibes acoustic afternoons. We now needed to move on to sort out our midweek events... But little did we know, the world had other plans.
Having been open just 2 months, Covid stopped us in our tracks. We went into lockdown and (like the rest of the World), waited for better times to come.
Once we were allowed to open, we did. The restrictions for trading were mammoth and seemed to change every other week, but we followed them to the letter and just kept going the best we could! To start off with, we could only open as a pop-up shop, bars were still a no no! Then we could open as a bar, with seated customers who could order at the bar, but not wait to collect their drinks at the bar then they changed it so that no one was allowed at the bar at all, so we installed a drinks ordering app!! We could only have 30% capacity to allow for social distancing and seating, so we fashioned extra tables from cable drums and barrels. At first no live music was allowed indoors, so we ran outdoor music and themed playlists indoors... Then as soon as we could go ahead with indoor seated gigs, we did. We shut at 10pm when we were in curfew, we served curry when we had to, in fact we became quite adept to the never-ending rule changes! We had started to run events Wed-Sun and made fantastic relationships with the bands and artists that performed. We teamed up with Elixir Lighting and had the most epic lighting rig installed, so even though our events were small and seated, they were magnificent! But, eventually we headed into more lockdowns and we had no choice but to close, (again)!
So here we are... two years on from where it all began. A ton of fantastic events under our belt, from quizzes, seated gigs, a panto, standing gigs, regular events, one offs and loads more to come!
So... Coming up at The Crooked Crow Bar:
This Friday (21st Jan, 8pm): The Filthy Spectacula
The Filthy Spectacula are a UK based band playing a carnival of gypsy punk, dark cabaret, goth, and steampunk with a touch of ska and pirate shanties, mixed with some dark... add more dark and you are almost there!
So if you fancy a high octane, outrageously fun night out, with an interactive experience of sing along, dance along and drink along music, join us this Friday as The Filthy Spectacula will be back at The Crooked Crow Bar.
Are you curious, seeking adventure and thrill? Come and see for yourself...
Tickets, just £5
Saturday 22nd January 12-6pm: BYO Vinyl
Come and give your favourite vinyl a spin on our twin Technics 1200s and mixer through our fantastic Studiomaster PA!
All genres welcome
No pre booking required
Friendly atmosphere
Free Entry
All skill sets welcome
Saturday 22nd January, 8pm:
Live Music from The Reformers
The boys in the red suits are back with their awesome set of mashed up, rocked up dance anthems!
It's always a great night when The Reformers are in town, so arrive early to ensure your space.
Free Entry.
Sunday Vibes: 12-4pm
Friday 28th: Hip Hop Lounge (see website for details and ticket links)
Saturday 29th: The Scallywags
