The owner of a new nightclub which aims to build on the success of Carlisle’s iconic Concrete club is positive about the future after a sellout opening night.
The Underground opened on the site of the former Concrete nightclub on Friday, with owner Jake Cabeza hoping to build on the success of an establishment that was embedded in the city’s nightlife for 15 years.
“It’s a club that is iconic in Carlisle which shut down a couple of years ago,” said Jake.
“People have mentioned Concrete, bringing it back etc, so I went to have a look and purchased it.”
He said the new name of “The Underground” was inspired by the look and feel of the club and nods to the fact that it is of course – underground.
“Similar to what it was, but not just a student bar,” said Jake, setting out what his vision for the nightclub is going forward.
“We would still students to come, it’s just not the main group that we are solely targeting. If you are 40 and you want a good time that’s totally fine.
“We also want to focus on events.”
The club will start by opening on Friday and Saturdays and – inspired by the success of the popular Teapot Tuesdays – will also explore trialling Tuesday nights.
Thursdays have also been considered but “a lot of places are open on Thursday offering cheap drinks”, said Jake.
The music will range depending on the night or event but house music will be the overarching theme.
“We won’t be going down the cheesy route,” said Jake.
New DJ booth
Four new air conditioning systems have been installed in the club and an upgraded DJ booth has been moved to the right side of the club, which Jake says “opens up the dancefloor a bit more”.
Jake also said that booking big name DJs is something he has “spoken about” and there were “a couple of names we could look at”.
“We are not trying to be Concrete, we just want to be the same type of club and we don’t want to go too off-topic,” added Jake.
Another thing on the horizon for The Underground is a late-night bar opening between 4am and 8am exclusively for hospitality staff.
As well as opening The Underground, the business owner has also recently opened 32 Bar and nightclub Truth.
The opening night for The Underground on Saturday sold out within a day, with 250 tickets snapped up within 90 minutes.
“The opening night went fantastically well, such a busy and great night, everyone having a good night on two packed dancefloors,” said Jake.
“And with a few other events lined up this month announcing on the page in between our regular nights, it makes for a good December.”
