A new 'secret' bar dressed in the style of a 1920s speakeasy has opened in Bristol city centre. Gatsby's is the latest late-night venue on Park Street, promising high-end cocktails and live jazz music four nights a week.
Bar manager Nikos Psaros has worked in the hospitality industry for many years and also manages the well-established Antix, which sits directly below the new venue. Antix has been open since 2005 hosting live DJs and ravers seven days a week.
Gatsby's moved into the first floor of the building at the start of June, which was once home to Transylvania, a Romanian restaurant that closed last year. The Prohibition-era speakeasy bar is aiming to bring 1920s glamour to the very centre of Bristol.
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"We've tried to create something new. Lots of the other places on Park Street are more like a nightclub and we've tried to create something more exclusive, a VIP space with high-end cocktails," Nikos told BristolLive.
The venue, named after F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, will evoke the glamour of the story, kitted out with bench seating and vintage Chesterfield sofas creating several cosy areas. The cocktail menu is one of the key distinctions of the bar heralding a gilded age of drinking evoking classic drinks of the 1920s.
Cocktails, which include Last Word, French 75 and Fast Car, range from £12.50 to £15 with some drinks available in a larger quantity served from a teapot. Much like the storyline in the 1920s novel of the same name, there will also be live music which will centre around the same era offering swing, jazz and piano on weekends.
Nick said: "People should expect high customer service, very well-made classic cocktails and a great atmosphere. They'll be really chilled jazz music and we're trying to create some special nights in the coming months, hopefully by September."
He continued: "Gatsby's is a secret bar. There won't be big signs outside so what we're trying to do is bring people in and slowly get the name out there. All people who have been already liked it a lot and are talking about it.
"It's something different from other venues on Park Street. Hopefully, we can attract people here who want nice cocktail and a chill atmosphere."
First Floor, 44a Park Street, Bristol, BS1 5JG. Open Thursday to Sunday from 6pm to 2am. https://gatsbysbristol.co.uk/
