New craft ale bar to be opened in Cleveleys by boss of Blackpool's popular Waterloo Music Bar

Ian, well known on the Fylde coast for transforming the Waterloo pub in Blackpool into a acclaimed grass roots music venue, has been granted planning permission to turn the former CJ’s Cycles bike shop, on Victoria Road West, into a bar.

The new place is to be called Backstage Bar and will be similar to the separate bar of the same name that Ian has opened at the side of the Waterloo Music Bar.

It will combine a wide range of craft ales, many of them from Continental Europe and not widely available elsewhere on the Fylde coast, with live music at weekends.

Ian said: “We’re aiming for something different in Cleveleys, from the kind of drinks we offer to the decor and the look of the place.

"We’re going for a quirky, industrial look and lots of music-related items to go on the walls which will be interesting in their own right.

"We’ll have 18 taps available serving lots of different beers and real ales – beers to sip rather than knock back – and some fine wines too.”

Given the Waterloo’s renown as a music venue, Ian plans to have live sounds at the Cleveleys venue too, but it will be on a smaller scale.

He said: “It’s a smaller venue and a different area so we’ll be looking more at duos and acoustic acts and see how that goes.”

Work is already underway to transform the former bike shop, which closed last year, into a smart new bar.

It hoped that Backstage will be open to customers ‘within the next eight weeks’.

It is proposed that the venue will be open seven days a week, from 11am until midnight.

During the planning process, two objections were raised about noise, parking and traffic issues but four were received in support of the application, welcoming a new venue for Cleveleys and the fact that the premises would not be empty for long.

Last year another new bar, Vault, opened on Cleveleys Crescent East.