A Stack of ideas unveiled for new nightspot in city
A NEW food, drink and entertainment venue in the style of the popular Stack could open in Newcastle city centre next summer.
Just a stone’s throw away from the now dismantled shipping container village, developers are hoping to transform a run-down building into an exciting new venture.
The plans, which came before city councillors yesterday, would see the Worswick Chambers building in Pilgrim Street undergo a multimillionpound renovation into a major new leisure site.
If Newcastle City Council agrees to grant a premises licence for the proposed venue, the listed building could become home to a collection of new bars, food stalls and an entertainment plaza opening in summer 2023 – though there have been complaints Stack was a “living nightmare” for its neighbours.
Applicants Anson House 9 Ltd, led by Stack boss Neil Winch, is set to take a 20-year lease on the site, part of the huge regeneration of Pilgrim Street being driven by the Reuben Brothers.
Members of the council’s licensing sub-committee were told the proposals did not constitute a direct relocation of Stack and it would be a permanent fixture in the city centre rather than being temporary shipping containers – but there are similarities between the two.
Barrister Charles Holland said Stack, which closed in May to make way for the construction of a new HMRC office headquarters, was a “successful and much-admired venue” which “managed to pull off the feat of being large but intimate and was trouble-free.”
He said the new site hoped to replicate and improve on many of its key features – including a “relaxed atmosphere,” no charge for entry, a wide mix of food vendors and free entertainment.
The site would be split across three floors with eight bars, seven food stands, two function rooms, a coffee shop and other retail units surrounding a central courtyard with a stage and big screen.
Mr Holland added “many millions of pounds” would be spent to breathe new life into the 1800s building and the venue would directly employ 140 people – with another 40 jobs from the various vendors.
He said: “I have lived in the city for 25 years and Worswick Chambers has been pretty run down for the entirety of that. The site is well overdue for improvement and development.”
The venue would operate until 2am under the plans submitted to the council and Mr Holland said it would be required not to cause a nuisance either to the offices next door or to guests of the five-star hotel due to open on the fire station site.
However, city centre councillor Jane Byrne complained bosses “completely failed” to keep noise under control at Stack and caused “huge problems” for residents of nearby Bewick Court.
One Bewick Court resident who objected to the new scheme said Stack had been “nothing short of a living nightmare” and urged the council not to endorse “Stack coming back bigger, louder and more obnoxious than before.”
Concerns were also raised by city community safety chiefs about a lack of street lighting and taxi infrastructure and the resulting danger for women in a relatively quiet part of the city centre.
If the licence is approved by the council, a decision is due to be made public within five working days.
Then the local authority’s environmental health department is set to have a “veto” over the scheme as it must separately approve a noise management plan for it – details of which are being put on hold for now given the rapidlychanging scale of development around Pilgrim Street.