The Buyers Club Liverpool

Buyers Club Soundchecking

Two weeks before the new bar and music venue is set to open, Getintothis’ Adam Lowerson heads down to the Buyers Club to see how it’s coming along.

“It’s five people who had never even met before last Christmas, willingly forced together to build this project“, said Abandon Silence‘s Andrew Hill, just one of the five founders and creators of new Liverpool food, drink and music hangout the Buyers Club. “We’ve all got our different backgrounds so we can take more control over each part of the venue, but then we help out with ideas for each other, like I helped pick the paint colour for in the bar. It’s a real collaboration“.

Made up of Hill, alongside Bold Street Coffee owner Sam Tawil, Miles Falkingham of Camp and Furnace, and the Secret Diners Club, the team of five have taken over the former Flying Picket on Hardman Street, and began to transform it into something completely their own, each using their expertise and previous experience to make a space which can cater for all manner of music events, as well as a great place to eat and drink.

Tucked away behind the Old Blind School in the very happening part of Liverpool, as you approach you’re greeted by a big, glass entrance which will act as a foyer, linking the four sections of the venue together; the garden area, the stairway up to the music venue, the coffee shop bar area and the restaurant. Although the building is still a work in progress, it isn’t difficult to visual how it’s all going to look. Each room of the venue has a similar theme and style through, bare brick walls, wooden floorboards and an industrial air vent spanning the ceiling, yet each have their own individual personality, reflecting the characters of their creators.

The restaurant, which will be ran by the Secret Diners Club, is an intimate room which will seat around 35 people, and from October will serve food seven days a week, and is next door to the bar, which, is being overseen by Sam Tawil of Bold Street Coffee, and will serve drinks and bar food from morning until around midnight. The bar area has an atmospheric feel, and will be decorated by a wall of wine and other drinks in locally carpentered shelves and a shelf of vinyl which will be played by staff and DJs on turntables to lift the mood of an evening. With the bar hosting a wine expert, specialist cocktail makers and a whole host of craft beers, it’ll be sure to be a favourite drinking spot for many once it opens.

Upstairs, and what will likely be the biggest point of interest of the Buyers Club, the music venue is somewhat a blank canvas. A long, rectangle room with a bar towards the back, the venue will fit around 250-300 people for a whole host of venues from band nights to DJ sets, and with visuals being designed by Sam Wiehl of Liverpool Psych Fest, has the potential and versatility to adapt to the requirements of each individual event. The live listings for now remain relatively quiet while the venue builds its popularity, with the intention of more bands being booked from Christmas onwards, however there are some shows on the horizon including Dan Croll on November 12.

Due to its size, the Buyers Club venue is in no way a potential replacement for the closing Kazimier, but that was never the intention. Andrew Hill, who is overseeing the venue, said “We’ve never intended for it to take over from the Kazimier, it just happens to be closing around the time we are opening. I’ve put on a lot of my Abandon Silence nights there, so I’m as sad as anyone about it closing“.

With the passion and enthusiasm of the team of five creators acting as a driving force behind the Buyers Club’s conception, design and eventual running once open, the venue has its heart rooted in Liverpool. Ran by people from the city, with a strong love for its music, food and bar scenes, for the people of Liverpool, and has an authentic and organic feel. And although each aspect of the venue is being curated by different members of the team, as Andrew Hill puts it, “together is greater than the sum of its parts“. If his excitement when showing us around the venue is anything to go by, the Buyers Club will sure to be a very popular hangout in a thriving part of the city.

The Buyers Club opens for action on September 26, and will be open seven days a week.