Six-month success for Bar 4 (From Gazette & Herald)

Six-month success for Bar 4

Staff at Pickering's first wine bar can raise a glass to a successful first six months in business.

Bar 4 in the Market Place is the brainchild of entrepreneur Simon Boak, who runs the Events Office, which organises attractions such as the steam engine rally.

In opening the bar, he hoped to boost the night-time economy and attract people away from usual hotspots such as Scarborough and York.

"What it has done is create a bit of vibrancy which will hopefully help to keep the Market Place alive in the evenings and at weekends," he said.

"Obviously, Pickering is a tourist destination, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is the single biggest tourist attraction in the town," he added. "To bring in better quality shops and different places to eat and drink retains those tourists, and also gives local people more choice."

The swish surroundings offer something for everyone, with four distinctly separate areas, catering for different tastes. There is a sports bar, providing big-screen satellite coverage of events, and a comfy area at the front with big sofas and chairs.

Upstairs there is a music bar area and there is also a quieter room downstairs. The 17th century building was faithfully renovated, retaining many original features, including an entire recovery of the frontage, replacing numbered bricks one by one.

"I think that one of the main attractions of the bar is that there are four very separate areas," said Simon. "It means that if you want to watch the football you can, but if you don't want to you can move to another room and not have to have it imposed on you at all."

The bar menu offers a range of pizzas, burgers, salads and much more, rivalling the trendiest of chains with the added advantage of being independent and unique.

At the bar there are a range of European lagers as well as the usual draft premium lagers.

"Cocktails have become really popular here," said Simon. "There seemed to be a real demand so we do about twenty now," he said.

Now established, the bar is gearing up for its first summer. "It starts at Easter really and goes on from there," said Simon. "We're really looking forward to it."

Bar 4 was the venue for the successful first Gazette & Herald Bend Our Ears With Your Ideas coffee morning last Wednesday.

Updated: 11:28 Wednesday, March 08, 2006