Sean and Elly’s new venture

A COUPLE will finally get the chance to open their new business next week.

Dukes bar opens in Market Arcade, Halifax, on April 15, just over a year after Sean PattisonWalker, 33, and wife Elly, 28, were originally due to launch.

But the Mytholmroyd couple have overcome the delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic and are now ready to make their big move with the business.

“About five years ago we started a pop-up bar in Hebden Bridge, with 40 gins and a cask hand-pull,” said Sean.

“We stayed there for a year, finished up with 150 gins and a massive following and them set out on a mission to try and find the right place to open a bar.

“It took us until July 2019 to find where we’re at now. We were due to sign for it in March last year, the day Boris announced everybody’s closing. Luckily we were allowed to sit and wait things out, we got to August, things were looking reasonable, so we thought ‘we’ll sign it’. We started work on it hoping we might be open in November, but the virus had other ideas, but now we’re finally in a position to open.”

Sean is confident that the public will come out and support local businesses as lockdown restrictions start to ease.

“After 12, 13 months of lockdown, who doesn’t want to go out and have a drink?,” said Sean.

“There will be people who won’t want to go out and socialise as soon as possible because there’s no predicting what the virus can do. But people want to drink. We’ve kept our opening as bookings only so people can safe as possible. We’ve been in and around craft beer for four or five years now so we think we’ve got a fairly good grasp of what people want and what will attract people.

“The reaction we’ve had on social media so far has been unbelievable.”

We think we’ve got a fairly good grasp of what people want and what will attract people

MORE ONLINE: www. halifaxcourier.co.uk