Hop on over

Recent investment at one of Bangor’s most popular entertainment venues has created an edgy new attraction for revellers in the busy seaside resort…

There can’t be many pub-goers in the Bangor area who don’t have fond memories of Coyles Bar and Bistro in High Street which, for many years, was a by-word in the popular coastal resort for good food and lively entertainment.

Since June last year, however, the business has been in new hands and a fresh approach coupled with significant investment have signalled an exciting new era for the bustling, two-story venue – now renamed, the Hop House.

A two-phase refurbishment programme has seen £150,000 spent already this year to transform the premises.

Its new owners, who also operate award-winning sister bar, The Goat’s Toe in Bangor, purchased an adjacent, derelict house and used the additional space to add a distinctively-styled beer garden at the rear of the venue in June this year. With seating for around 80 visitors, the new area is partially covered and heated with electrical fires and equipped with a bar that has full draught facilities.

A cosy outdoor snug provides a wonderful getaway for around 20 lucky drinkers who can warm themselves by an open fire and at the weekends, a stone-built oven in the beer garden produces fresh pizzas to order. The garden also features a beer keg barbecue.

“After introducing the beer garden, our turnover has increased three-fold,” says Nigel McNeely, operations manager for the Hop House’s new owners. “We do live music three nights a week and we have a vinyl night when we do 80s music and people really seem to have taken to the new offering at the Hop House.”

The 40-seater K Restaurant on the first floor has also just received a make-over and the ground-floor bar area has been re-modelled to create more space. A snug-cum-VIP area called ‘What’s the Craic’ has been added downstairs along with an atmospheric log-burning stove and the toilets have been re-located onto the first floor to relieve a bottle neck en route to the new beer garden.

“At the point that we took the premises over it had been a family-owned business called Coyle’s,” recalls Nigel. “It had been very successful in the past, but times had grown a little difficult for them and we were brought in to be caretakers of the premises for the landlord, the Beannchor Group.”

Nigel also revealed, however, that his group hopes to acquire the premises entirely from Beannchor in the very near future.

Staying true to its new name, the Hop House is very focused on its craft beer offering – there are about two dozen varieties on offer at any time, many of them from local producers.

And catering to the current passion among consumers for cocktails, the Hop House intends to employ a mixologist very shortly and add a cocktail list to its offering.

“I would say that the Hop House is now one of the best bars in Bangor, we’ve managed a significant uplift in turnover since we took over the venue and people are saying to us that they really like the look of the place,” Nigel told LCN. “Now, the focus is on consolidating the gains that we’ve made and making sure that the Hop House is able to retain its position as the town’s leading entertainment venue.”