Work starts on a revamp for Coach

Popular Banbridge nightclub The Coach Inn is set for a major revamp as the new owners put their plans in place.

The nightclub has been temporarily closed after being sold after 10 months on the market.

Osiris Bars No 2 Ltd, part of the Fortuna Group, which owns Gowdy’s gastro pub near Lisburn, is working on a relaunch of the premises by late August.

The front bar and restaurant will be open for business as normal.

The Coach was part of the Quinn family group Shanidar Limited, which owned the town’s Harry’s Bar and still owns its Iveagh cinema.

On the Coach’s Facebook page a message says it hopes to “once again be one of the best and most up to date nightclubs in the UK, with state of the art lighting and sound systems.”

The Club will also boast a brand new room, new toilets and an impressive large beer garden that will be “second to none.”

And the public has been asked for suggestions for the new-look club.

The Facebbok statement also says this will be one of the biggest projects that has ever been undertaken at this venue.

The comment continues: “Our goal is to ensure that the coach is restored to its former best.”

News that the Coach was up for sale emerged in October last year, when it was reportedly put on the market with a guide price of £975,000.

Dominic Quinn Snr is thought to have paid at least £1m for The Coach when he bought it from the Scullion brothers over a decade ago.

At the time it went on the market The Coach was described by John Martin of selling agents Osborne King as “one of Northern Ireland’s premier nightclubs” which had “always done well in the past”.

It was hoped when it went on sale last year that the bar and restaurant, whose associated nightclub was renowned for pulling in crowds and staging big-name DJ events - would be bought quickly.

The 1.5 acre Coach site incorporates a successful restaurant, bar and nightclub, the Jockey Bar, office space and outbuildings and drew considerable expressions of interest through sealed bids before being finalised recently.

Some local councillors were among those eager for a buyer to be found.

Sinn Fein’s Brendan Curran said that between wages and rates, the premises had contributed a lot of money to Banbridge.

It’s believed all the staff are to be kept on under the new ownership.

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