OUTLINE INSIGHT
One of the undisputed gems in the music scene of Norwich is Te Brickmakers/B2. So we popped along and spoke to Charley from the Brickies to understand more how they carry on doing what they do …
Tis April sees the celebration of you in charge of this fine establishment for 15 years – a big one! Firstly, will you celebrate in the same way, with a secret band? Oh yes, it’s such a fun thing to do. Leading up to the event our customers try to guess who it is, staff are often bribed with a drink to try and get them to tell customers who is playing which is hilarious because the only ones who know that are me, Emma and Pam. If you want to see who’s on, you’ll just have to turn up. I’d get in early though as we always get full up on our birthday party. Some things are obvious to see, but from your perspective, how has running a pub changed in 15 years? Well I guess you have to look at it from two different angles, there’s running a pub and then there’s running a music
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OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK
venue. Running a pub isn’t easy these days, overheads just keep going up and beer prices are high, especially to venues like us who are tied to a Pub Co. It can be hard to tempt potential customers off their sofas when supermarkets make it so cheap to drink in the comfort of your own home. Running the music venue side of things is the fun side of our fantastic venue. We are so lucky to have a huge wealth of talented bands here in the city, that grace our stage every night of the week. Tat is one thing that hasn’t changed, in fact it just gets better all the time. You have to balance being a renowned music venue with being a popular community pub in Sprowston – how do you satisfy both music fans and locals? We have a very loyal bunch of regulars that are here irrespective of what’s on
the stage. Luckily most of our locals are music fans so the balance is set by them really. We get involved in our local community as much as possible, raising money for local school, involved with local groups such as the Sprowston Youth Engagement Project, the local dementia Cafe and working alongside St Cuthberts Church. Sprowston has been my home for over 35 years and it’s very important to us to maintain our place in the heart of the community. You must’ve had many highlights over those 15 years, not least winning British Music Pub of the Year… twice! What did it feel like to get that recognition? God yes, too many to pick out a favourite. Te last 15 years have flown by really, but working in the pub environment can be like that at times. I swear sometimes that if I didn’t have two dogs that needed
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