The B and B hotel has re branded its pub which is now called: "Secrets" to capitalise on the influx of business from the Blackpool illuminations.
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00:00So the first thing I want to start with is how has the bar changed from before to rebranding
00:07now? Because obviously customers have gone and used this. What's the main difference?
00:13The main difference is we're going to have a working jukebox, which we didn't have before.
00:18We are doing £2 a pint. We're opening from 6pm every day and we're shut on a Sunday.
00:25We're opening from 6pm. On a Friday we're doing £2 a drink as well. So for weekends,
00:30people that want to start the night off, we're doing £2 a pint as well. But we're doing
00:36Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be £2 a pint. And then on a Friday for a
00:45couple of hours, start at evening will be £2 a pint. The reason we've rebranded it,
00:50we've rebranded the name, obviously that's why we call it Secrets. And obviously we've
00:53rebranded the... and we're going to have Drag Queens as well, which we didn't have before.
01:01We're going to have some entertainment that we didn't have before.
01:04What was the inspiration behind the name of Secrets?
01:08It was either going to be called Pirates Cabin or Secrets because we wanted something that
01:15would make people think, ooh, intriguing. Are you with me? And that's why we went for
01:20Secrets. But yeah, that was the main reason for going for it because we want to try and
01:25get people in off-street and want to come and see what they can get for £2 a pint.
01:30And there's a thing going on with Green King Cubs as well at the moment, a lot of them
01:35are offering £2 a pint as well.
01:37Good. Nice to hear that other people are...
01:41So what's the name of the Drag Queen you're hoping is going to come out?
01:46I actually... Jon was dealing with that, so I don't actually know her name. He's dealt
01:51with through a friend, but yes, I don't know her name yet.
02:00So when I talked to you last, you were talking about there's a lot of competition in other
02:07hotels and other new bars and stuff at the moment. Do you think this will... How's that
02:11been going and how do you think the new rebranding and everything is going to help that?
02:17Well, I'm hoping it'll make people... I mean, obviously we're still called the B&B Blackpool.
02:22We're still a hotel that's offering rooms from £27 a night, but we'll try and get the
02:28bar off the ground because the rooms are doing quite well. We're obviously doing something
02:31right, so we're getting a lot of repeat customers. So now what I need to do is try and get the
02:34bar off the ground. We've now got the bar across the road that's now opened, so they're
02:38open four nights a week as well. So with them being open and us being open, hopefully it'll
02:43bring people down the street.
02:45Yeah, yeah. So it's just getting more business in the whole area.
02:48Yeah, yeah. Getting people in all the business. No point having a chock-empty space, we might
02:52as well try and use it.
02:53Yeah, so what difference does this have from all across the world then, or other ones that...
03:00I mean, the other... Right, I'll give you an example. The other ones probably offer
03:04more entertainment than we do, but we don't want to be... We want to be a quiet bar where
03:09you can come and have a few drinks before you start going into nightlife. Are you with
03:12me?
03:13Yeah, yeah.
03:14If you go into... That's why we're £2 a pint because we're not paying for a massive amount
03:17of entertainment. We're not paying for... We can drop the price a little bit, give that
03:21to the customer. Our plan is for people to come in and have a few quiet drinks in here
03:26and then go on and have the night out. Are you with me?
03:28Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:29That's our plan.
03:31Yeah.
03:34Yeah, so you told... You just told me the thing about the grand opening event, and you
03:38said that was next Tuesday.
03:39Next Tuesday we've got a grand opening, so we're doing a bit of a buffet, £2 a drink
03:44on that as well, and we're doing... So £2 on calling and £2 on Kingston's Press. But
03:52our plan is... Our plan again is to try and get a bit of food on as well for the grand
03:58opening. We're opening at 6pm, and all the outside of the building's been redecorated,
04:03redone. We've had the roof redone. We've had all gold fencing and stuff. We've had all
04:09that redone. We've got some more work getting done out there as well. But it's... The 24th
04:13is to rebrand the name, get us known, get people to know that we're here, and meet up
04:18at... Instead of L&J's bar, come and meet at Secrets.
04:23So this won't impact any of the guest experience?
04:28No, no. I mean, as in previously, and it won't moving forward, we still want to give that
04:33top quality service. We're only a three-star bed and breakfast, but we want to be able
04:38to give that top quality service. And customers can also enjoy that £2 pint as well as the
04:43public. We are a public bar, so obviously the public can enjoy it as well as our guests.
04:49Yeah, yeah. How's business been during the eliminations and everything?
04:54Absolutely amazing. We've actually done really, really well.
04:58Yeah, yeah.
04:59We have been the busiest. It's the busiest August we've had in four years. So, yeah,
05:04no problems at all. We're really busy.
05:07And you're capitalising on that with the start of the bar now?
05:10Yeah, yeah. That's our plan. What we've done, we've reinvested some of the money we've made
05:15back into the building by having it redecorated, rooms redecorated. We've spent money on new
05:20bedding, new thingy on the bar, new signage, making it all look nice and fresh and ready
05:26for customers to be welcomed.
05:28Yeah, yeah. So, what would be your message to people who are thinking, this sounds quite
05:36good, and why come to the bar?
05:38Well, come and give us a try. Like I said, we're just a quiet jukebox in the background,
05:43nice and quiet, chilled out, have a chat, make it your first point of call when you
05:47come out. We'll meet up at Secrets, have a couple of pints here and then move on. We're
05:53not all the thrills, we've not got all these drag queens all the time and things like that.
05:58It's more mainly to come in, have a quiet drink, listen to your own music, whatever
06:02you want to listen to on the jukebox, enjoy a pint at £2 a pint. The majority of our
06:09opening hours were £2 a pint. And basically, come and enjoy yourself, come and just have
06:15a chill and unwind, and listen to us, chat your head away.
06:20Yeah, perfect. So, I guess the only other question I could have was, do you have any
06:29other future plans for the hotel or bar or anything like that?
06:34I mean, we've got Friends Hotel on Reeds Avenue as well. We are opening a bar there
06:40as well. We're doing that as we speak at the moment. We've had the bar area refurbished
06:46and that's going to be, at the moment though, that's only for guests. It's not got a public
06:52bar, it's only for guests. But we are spending a bit of money on that, doing it up, and then
06:57we're going to look at maybe getting a public licence.
07:01So that's, was that Friends Hotel?
07:04Friends Hotel on Reeds Avenue, yeah.
07:07Right. Reeds Avenue. Yeah, so that'd be great. So yeah, there's lots of stuff happening.
07:18So yeah, I'll have to keep an eye out. If you let me know when that's coming along,
07:23I'm doing something now, I guess. So, yeah, I think that's good.