It's been almost a year since Boyzone star Shane Lynch decided to open his first Irish bar in his new home county of Cheshire - and he's not looked back since. The D13 bar on King Street in Knutsford has become a buzzing part of life in the market town, and Shane and wife Sheena have been take aback by the warm welcome they've received since moving up north.
This week they celebrated their first St Patrick's Day in Knutsford in style - with Shane's family and friends all toasting the day in spring sunshine in their huge outdoor "Guinness Garden". Painted all in black like a pint of Guinness it boasts a multi-level outdoor space for customers, which gave their business a vital start last April when lockdown restrictions meant they could initially only serve outside their bar on King Street.
Since then, they've also transformed the interiors of the 300-year-old building, which is spread over three levels, and is aimed to offer a "boutique bar" experience taking the visitor on a journey from "traditional to modern Ireland". The venue is named after the D13 postcode where Shane grew up in Dublin, and he says it makes him feel like "he's home" every time he heads back to the bar.
Read more :
And moving to the north would also be a big turning point for the whole Lynch family - just weeks after opening their D13 bar fresh from moving their family from London up to Ellesmere Port, Sheena was approached to become a new star of the Real Housewives of Cheshire and is now busy filming her second series of the show.
Shane, reflecting on the past year in his Guinness Garden, tells the MEN: "Do you know what, after opening in April last year we had an amazing summer, it's hard to get an outdoor area at all in Knutsford so we landed on our feet here, we have it aplenty, in abundance here. We were able to open the inside of the bar in August, and we've been jammers ever since," he laughs, explaining that "jammers is our word for busy all day!"
The couple, along with long-time friend and movie stunt driver Nathan Gerhold, had long had a dream to open their own Irish bar, and when Nathan also moved to the county they decided to take the plunge. Having a Boyzone star owner certainly gets people talking, and Nathan laughs that he's only now asked "70 or 80 times a day" if Shane is in the building.
Shane does stay very hands on with the bar business, and says he can't thank the people, and fellow business owners, of Knutsford enough for their warm welcome.
He says: "When the sun is shining on my face out here, it couldn't get more glorious than that, but the only thing makes it better is the people who come here, the clients, the locals that's what makes a bar, that's what makes friendships, what makes it everything we want it to be.
"We were friendly outsiders coming into Cheshire but Knutsford has really looked after us. Myself I'm an Irishman, my wife is from London, Nathan is from Brighton - we're nomads - we've travelled up here a long way and Cheshire has made us very, very welcome, everyone has made us so welcome.
"A lot of the establishments around here are friendly, if we run out of beer, we get it from them, if they run out of beer we get it to them. It's a town alive to be honest. A town alive is worth a drive, so come on, come over to Knutsford."
Shane is also getting into the swing of reality TV alongside Sheena in the Real Housewives of Cheshire and even jokes they should do a spin-off on the Real husbands of Cheshire to go with it. Shane says: "What I do love about the Housewives brand is they do collaborate with the family story, the husbands, kids, dogs, cats, it's about your life, the way your living it, and leading it.
"I'm super proud to see Sheena on the show, it's been very welcoming again from us moving up from the south to the north west. And we've been very much welcomed in Cheshire as a family so thanks all of you, really."
Read more :
Read more :
Sheena has confirmed that fresh from her debut season last year, she is back filming for the upcoming Series 15 of the ITVBe show. She said: "I'm having so much fun doing that, every day is an adventure that we're filming, it's been a lot of fun."
The bar boasts a regular mix of live music and DJs, with Shane saying they pride themselves on being an "open house" for musicians. "We're open to anything," he laughs.
"We didn't know how reserved people would be in Cheshire, but you don't have to be reserved here at D13 - come to the Irish bar and you can let your hair down, come and play some music, we have open mic nights, if you DJ let us know we love to hear it."
But what the team are most proud of is gaining a "10/10" certificate from Guinness themselves for their pour of the black stuff.
Nathan said: "We have a 10/10 certificate for Guinness. Guinness came over to make sure our Guinness was perfect and we got a 10/10 rating we couldn't ask for better than that."
For St Patrick's Day they also put up a special wooden spray paint wall where guests were encouraged to leave their own mark with spray cans - and even had a tattoo artist on hand. Shane admitted he probably couldn't resist a new inking to go along with his impressive array of body art.
Shane explains his tattoo obsession began as a teenager, as his artist and painter mother used him as a "blank canvas". He said: "My mother is an artist, a painter, when I was younger, she wanted to be a tattooist so she started on me when I was 14, she is a tattoo artiste extraordinaire, I was the blank canvas to become the painted young boy today."
The bar holds around 240 people and guests walk in off King Street to the main bar area with traditional woods and funky glass lighting, before walking across an extraordinary marble-effect floor with dark red booth seating.
Shane said: "The whole idea was to go from old Ireland through to modern Ireland. I used to get homesick for years, but I don't have to be homesick anymore because I just come here and it's like being at home," he laughs.
While they've been enjoying the bar business in Knutsford they have no plans for expansion just yet. Shane says: "D13 is a boutique Irish bar, and in Manchester there's some big establishments there that I don't think we could compete with really. So we are happy to stay here, we can keep it cosy."
Get the latest What's On news - from food and drink to music and nightlife - straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.
