Liquid Room turns up the heat with re-launch after fire

ONE of the Capital's top music venues is finally set to re-open its doors after being closed for a year and a half following a devastating fire in the Old Town.

The Liquid Room will play host to a series of live music acts and club nights from the last week in July, culminating in an official re-launch party on 4 August.

It is also hoped the venue will be completed in time to host a special performance by star DJ Sasha on 17 July, which would act as a "test run" for the venue, which was closed in December 2008 following the Victoria Street fire.

Contractors are now working round-the-clock to get the venue ready in time.

Club owner John McWilliams said the nightmare of the past 18 months is "finally coming to an end".

A complete refurbishment was required, which has cost Mr McWilliams 3.2 million, combined with up to 700,000 loss of earnings for the past six months alone.

Despite the vast amount of money being ploughed into the project, the venue will look exactly the same to punters as it always has - which is exactly what Mr McWilliams wants.

However, "phase two" of the refurbishment - which will be completed further down the line - will be much more evident to customers.

The venue's basement is to be converted into a second club, complete with stage, sound system and its own bars, and will host bands in front of a more intimate audience of up to 300 people.

Both upstairs and downstairs venues are set to receive the same sound system which festivals such as Glastonbury and T in the Park use.

Mr McWilliams said: "People won't notice any difference, but that's what I wanted.

"I don't see the point in changing something that's not broke. Everybody loved it the way it was.

"The bar is starting to go in and the seating is going in on Monday, then we'll be installing sound and lights.

"This has been a nightmare, but we have overcome every problem that has presented itself.

"The nightmare's finally coming to an end."

The re-opening date has already had to be put back several times as work to replace the roof of the 19th-century former church suffered a series of delays.

The massive blaze saw firefighters battle 20ft flames at the building, which is shared with Finnegan's Wake bar and Khushi's Indian restaurant.

Investigations revealed the fire had broken out in the kitchen of Khushi's, causing extensive damage to the premises and its neighbouring businesses.

Mr McWilliams said negotiations with insurance companies had delayed work starting on the project.

He added: "The fire started on 19 December 2008 but we didn't start reinstating the roof until January 2010 and it's taken us just six months to get to this point.

"If everyone had got their act together in 2009 with their insurers we would have been open long ago."

Events manager Kath Mackenzie added: "There's going to be so many people excited about the liquid Room re-opening so we don't want to ease ourselves in gently - we want to show everyone that we're back."

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