New Jailhouse ‘to open soon’

NUNEATON’S Jailhouse is set to open ‘as soon as possible’ say its new owners.

It will simply be called ‘Jailhouse’ as a nod to its history.

Darren and Sue Lee have taken over the once popular venue in Chapel Street and hope to bring it back to its glory days - with a few new touches.

“We are in the process of getting it ready to re-open it, it has been closed for almost three years,” said Mr Lee, who ran the old 007 in Bond Gate as well as a stint at the former Merevale pub.

“The building was pretty much derelict, or there was nothing left in it, not even the radiators. We are working on it at the moment to open it as soon as we feasibly can.”

He said that the Jailhouse, which is what it will be known as, will be an eatery with food, drink and coffee, similar to as it was in the daytime previously.

“We also hope to expand into the evenings as well,” the 52-year-old said. They were granted a licence to open until 2am by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

“We realise in the evenings in Nuneaton, there is a bit of a gap of somewhere nice to go, so we hope to be able to offer that,” he added.

They also hope to have a pavement licence granted, so that they can set up tables and chairs out on the terrace part of the front of the building.

Both have a wealth of experience in the industry: “We have run venues in Bedworth, Tamworth, Solihull and Coventry. “

The prospect of running a venue with ‘potential’ attracted them into Nuneaton town centre.

“We were aware that it was vacant and we were aware that it had a lot of potential,” he said.