Blossoms star Tom Ogden and wife Katie have revealed plans to open their first cocktail bar and salon venture in their native Stockport. The couple will launch Bohemian Arts Club on Lower Hillgate in the burgeoning Underbanks district in early 2023.
The Stockport venue is currently undergoing a huge renovation transforming it from a derelict and run down space to what is planned to be a "chic and intimate cocktail bar" on the first and second floors. There will also be the Bohemian hair salon on the ground floor.
The late-night cocktail bar will be accessed by an entrance hidden away on the historic cobbled street of Coopers Brow. It has all been inspired by secret speakeasies from across the globe that owners Tom and Katie have visited whilst Tom toured with Blossoms.
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Meanwhile the salon element will be the second site for beauty entrepreneur Katie's popular Hazel Grove brand Bohemian. It promises to be a "stylish and bohemian space", inviting customers to enjoy luxurious surroundings with a highly experienced style team.
Blossoms singer Tom, speaking to the MEN, said the bar and salon venture has been a plan that he and Katie have long been discussing - and they're excited to finally see it come to fruition. The hope is for the project to be fully unveiled early in the new year.
Tom said: "When we took on the building it was completely derelict so it's taken a long time to get it to this point. I've known Katie for a long time and for as long as I can remember she's always wanted to have a salon with a speakeasy bar in it.
"When we've been travelling on tour, we've been to places like Japan and New York and you find these really quirky off the beaten track bars that we ended up falling in love with. So at the start of 2021 we said 'why don't we do this in Stockport?"
"We are creating somewhere that we ourselves would like to go to. We knew if we were going to do it it would have to be in Stockport, we're passionate about the area and we still live here, we love it.
"We look at what's been happening with the Underbanks area, the investment that's been made and it's brilliant.
"If you look at what it was like probably going back to when I was a teenager going out, from bieng 18, there was nowhere here you'd want to go out. We never went to Stockport we went to Manchester all the time.
"The Underbanks area had become a bit rundown, it was just pubs with real regulars. But now it feels like the bar and restaurant scene has really taken off in Stockport.
"We look at when Where the Light Gets In first opened [the award-winning restaurant], and all of a sudden it gave Stockport something people would travel from elsewhere to."
When the bar opens it will also become the second Blossoms-linked venture on Underbanks. Just along the street is Top of the Town Vintage, the retro fashion store created by influencer Sophia Rosemary, the fiance of Tom's bandmate Joe Donovan (who is also Katie's brother).
The Underbanks area is now being hailed as the "Soho of the North" with a raft of independent operators moving into the historic district.
Tom said we can also expect to see a vintage style with Bohemian Arts Club. He said: "It takes time to get it all in place, but it's going to be a really beautiful interior, with rare vintage pieces. Katie is really passionate about interiors. The attention to detail is going to be like nowhere else in this area."
The beauty salon will be on the bottom floor of the building, while the secret entrance to the bar will be along the atmospheric cobbled Coopers Brow.
Tom says: "I think the secret entrance adds to it as well. When we were looking at the building we liked the idea of a non-descript, speakeasy style entrance as you go up the brow."
When the bar launches early next year, can we expect to see Tom and the Blossoms boys regularly at the Bohemian Arts Club?
Tom laughed: "Well, not behind the bar unless things take a drastic turn, but I'm sure me and the lads will be there. We've spent that much time, we've put our passion and heart into it, that we will definitely deserve a cocktail or two.
"It can be the official Blossoms Christmas party venue in future."
The band have just completed their latest tour with the "perfect finale" - a series of back-to-back homecoming shows at Manchester Apollo. Tom says: "It was the perfect way to end the tour after 24 dates in a month. It was nice to finish with a big party as close to our home town as possible."
Tom says he's already back writing again, with the prospect of the band recording new material early in the new year. He says: "Time will definitely be split between band and bar stuff next year."
For more information and updates on the bar visit www.bohemianartsclub.com/ or follow https://www.instagram.com/bohemianartsclub/
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