Something different is happening but full details haven’t been revealed
Late-night bar Industria
A Nottinghamshire bar has closed down after owners revealed it had been “bleeding money”.
Industria, a late-night bar for 12 years, in Mansfield, had been losing more than £6,000 some months towards the end, according to one of the owners.
Jono Edwards, who runs andwhynot amongst other venues in the area, posted on Facebook that it wasn’t right or fair on staff at the other bars and restaurants working hard to prop up Industria in Leeming Street.
He told the Nottingham Post that the bar is to have a refurbishment in the hope it will appeal to the people that are not currently coming into the town centre at night.
He blamed Industria’s decline on the changes that have hit Mansfield’s drinking circuit, saying: “The whole landscape has changed, we all know this, more so in the last couple of years. Where Industria is situated, what we offered, the crowd of people out in town and our opening times ended up feeling very wrong and out of kilter.”
They held off closing until now in the hope it would rally.
“When your passion for the town never really falters (which it doesn’t), you keep thinking its a blip, it’ll come back, it’s because of A, B, C — you can easily make up a whole boat load of excuses, when really you know deep down what the problem is,” said Mr Edwards.
He blamed the lack of footfall on the cost of living, but also what Mansfield has to offer on a night out.
Industria in Mansfield
“I don’t think on the whole it’s good enough at the minute, the choice of bars. It all feels a bit ‘the same’ don’t you think? And that needs to change in my opinion,” he continued.
“There’s a whole bunch of people missing. One reason is because there’s not enough for them in town. Industria was part of that problem too.
“By no means am I slating other venues in the town centre, not for one second, there’s some great people working really hard and doing great things in great venues with the tools they have, or are given by the breweries, to keep their pubs and the nightlife alive and fair play to them.”
As well as calling on the authorities to clean up the town and drive out anti-social behaviour, he said the government had done nothing to help the industry, going as far as saying: “I honestly think at times they want to cripple our industry and other small businesses forever.”
None of the Industria staff have lost their jobs; they have been offered new positions at the other venues which include The Cheeky Monkey, the Red Bar & Grill and The Devonshire at Upper Langwith.
As for the future, they own the building and won’t be selling up any time soon. Mr Edwards hasn’t gone into detail about the new look.
He said: “You really didn’t think we’d just walk away and not give it one huge last roll of the dice before we retire did you? Times change, we adapt, that’s what we do.