Sakura, Reading

Sakura

reading

Sakura

venues, July 2008, COMMENTS

Let’s take the roof off!” proclaims Eclectic Bar’s commercial director Roger Dyer. It’s something that he and managing director Reuben Harley have become rather accustomed to since launching the company two years ago, and in more ways than one. He is referring to their unusual, yet effective technique of creating an enclosed smoking courtyard by literally lifting the roof from a room within the venue, but with Eclectic’s customer focus, and passion for great venues, it is an apt reference to their overall outlook.

Building on the Po Na Na’s and Fez Club’s whittled from the Avanti buyout, Eclectic Bars has restructured, turned the business around and developed a new name to add to their portfolio. Sakura, launched in Lincoln in September 2007, has now travelled South to Reading, opening where a Fez once stood, on the 22 May.

Roger explains: “Reading was right for a change, it was a big, tired old unit. The issue was that the Fez in Reading was very much more live music; you get to the stage where it’s known as a live music venue so you don’t go there unless there’s some live music on and that’s not where we wanted to be really.”

The site, although in need of a major reworking, offered a floor plan that lent itself perfectly to the Sakura formula, which crosses operationally from daytime to evening and into late night. Reuben explains: “It’s got to be [at least] two levels, in our opinion. You can go into the bar during daytime to eat, drink, take it easy with the bar culture, then all the hi-energy stuff is upstairs where you can swing your pants!”

A 12-week build was proposed for the 580 capacity venue, a timeframe that was tested by the extensive strip-out, which stole two weeks from the project. But thanks to some effective project management by Redgate Contracts, and daily contact from both Roger and Reuben, the job was completed on time. Roger recalls: “The contractors did well, Redgate. I’ve used them before, they’ve got a good project manager, which is the key really.”

Entry to Sakura comes from street level, offering a shop window for customers, especially during the day, to peer into. The ground floor is home to comfortable but sophisticated fixed seating and tables, overhung by oriental themed decorative lighting, ideal for daytime eating and social debate.

The oriental theming runs throughout the venue, with its intricate design coming courtesy of Eclectic’s collaboration with Julian Taylor Design. Roger and Reuben both agree that the choice of designer was a good one, says Reuben: “I’ve worked with Julian for God knows how long. He’s got a good eye for detail, and because I’ve worked with him, he does understand my stupidity at time.”

Roger adds: “He will see some clever things that we won’t have done. Generally it works pretty well; we’ll say: ‘this is the shape of the building, this is how we see it’ and he’ll come up with some great designs from there.”

From the ground level, an open staircase eases into the sub-ground floor where the epic bar runs the length of the left hand side, poled by high tables and seating on the opposite wall, with a concoction of plain and decorated seating and tables over the wooden floor in the middle. Julian from Julian Taylor Design explains the work done in this area:

“Essentially we took a site that only ever traded during the evening and needed to create zones that were broadly more accessible and offered daytime operation as well. This is focused on the ground floor, hence the opening up of the shop front and views into the lower ground floor and all the structural work that that entailed.” Roger continues: “The biggest structural change was that staircase down to the lower ground, because as Fez, there was a single width staircase.”

Prominent design features on this floor include: the bamboo that adorns the right hand wall behind the high tables; the glass shelving behind the bar that frames a large fish tank in the centre and the oversized Buddha head on the bar top that greets patrons moving down from street level.

It is this lower floor that proved to be especially satisfying for Julian: “I really like the ground floor. It’s difficult to take a series of dark colours and heavy textures and still make them feminine, which we did. The use of lighting, decorative flower backdrops and bespoke furniture makes this a fantastic area with lots of visual interest”.

Up on the second main level, again the bar runs along the left hand wall. Width is maintained in this room, as operationally it is a thoroughfare for those destined for the smoking area or the super-kitsch, Abstract AVR LED Ledion disco dancefloor. Flanking this room, opposite the bar, are the VIP tables, which can be booked and come equipped with illuminated champagne buckets; the area is given enough privacy by the decorative bamboo used to section the area off, without disjointing it from the rest of the venue.

Julian says: “On the first floor we wanted to have intimate areas that gave great access and vision into the main action; the raised levels and bamboo screening allowed this. As a backdrop, we created a sculpted relief wall that follows the spirit of a Japanese garden. These details allow the spaces to have a sense of identity.”

From the first floor, The Opium Lounge can be reached by way of a staircase at the street end of Sakura. This room looks down to the floor below, with extensive views that reach all the way to the flashing dancefloor at the end. The décor is personal, contemporary and warm. T-lights twinkle amongst the blossom tree print that stretches around the room, while a variety of booths and transparent moveable seating make the space appealing to those looking for a chilled out vibe, or perhaps a low key night of seduction.

Julian talks through the design brief: “We were asked to build on the success of the Sakura brand that we first worked on in Lincoln. The brief here was to make it soft and sexy, and an experience that made the most of the multi-levelled site. Being over a number of floors, it was important to make sure that each of the spaces had their own character to ensure it maintained and evolved the experience of the customers.”

Reuben adds: “Julian got it because he knew where we were trying to take it and again with the brief we said: ‘west-end type of nightclub and bar in a provincial town’, and we took the shape and worked room by room.”

Drawing from their respective backgrounds, Roger and Reuben have areas of expertise that they use to enhance the overall operation. Before linking up with Roger at Nightclub Company, Reuben worked with bars, and so has an education in service and premium drinks, and reveals: “technology is Roger’s bag.”

SSE Audio has installed a variety of Martin Audio speakers, Crown amplification as well as the latest Pioneer kit. Roger had hoped to include Pioneer’s DVJ equipment, as he explains: “We work with SSE a lot. We went with them to Pioneer to look at all their DVJ kit - it’s phenomenal. We thought for Hed Kandi and stuff, they’d love it, but it’s just not the right venue, so we’d be wasting our money.”

The system caters for eight different zones, something that SSE’s operations director, Emma Barwell feels wouldn’t be as efficient or flexible without the Yamaha DME64N digital processor, as she explains: “The Yamaha DME unit takes care of all system processing and system routing and shows how clever Yamaha are. It gives the capacity for eight points to route audio, in one, which gives the client cost efficiency and great flexibility.”

The final chapter to the Sakura, Reading story is the outdoor smoking courtyard, formerly the manager’s office. The area is positioned upstairs from the dancefloor end of the first floor, and provides an ideal outdoor solution, Roger explains: “You take the room as if you’re making a wet room, and then remove the roof, which gives you a nice little enclosed courtyard. You don’t have the problems with sound because everything travels upwards.”

The Eclectic Bars story is a relatively young one, and despite this, their well-respected estate sits at 13 venues. The ambition for growth is apparent in Roger and Reuben’s characters, something Roger confirms: “We’re looking at key cities. We’ve got some good things on the cards at the moment but we’re not going to go mad. We certainly don’t want to get into the scenario of opening loads and regretting them, but we certainly want to do a few this year.”

Sakura, Reading offers so much to the customer in terms of design, food, entertainment and service, all of which have been tuned to the market and bolstered by the expertise of Roger, Reuben and the Eclectic Bars’ team. Reuben explains part of their philosophy, which is true for Sakura, the other Eclectic Bars and no doubt future openings: “We don’t want to be seen by the customer as a chain bar, we like little finishing touches. I think you’ve got to have that independent feel all over, it shows you care.”

Words: Michael Nicholson

Images: Jim Ellam

From: July 2008 Issue

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