An Oldham bar which stays open on Christmas Day until 4am on Boxing Day each year is gearing up to take in customers from another Oldham pub slated for closure.
Bees Knees, on Fairbottom Street, remained open from 3pm on Christmas Day until 4am on Boxing Day.
Speaking to The Oldham Times, pub manager Emma Keylock said the ‘friendly team’ at the Bees Knees is planning to take in the regulars from Harry’s Bar, which is rumoured to close next month, by extending its opening hours – which she hopes will prove that pubs aren’t all doomed to become HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) or takeaways.
The bar, which currently opens at 3pm, will open five hours earlier, at 10am, each day from January.
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‘We’re always busy’
Emma said the bar has stayed open late on Christmas Day for all four of the years she has worked there.
The 34-year-old said: “We’re always busy. The reason we do it during the day is so that people who are normally going to be alone have got somewhere to go, they can meet up with their friends and they don’t have to be at home on their own.
“The nighttime is more so the friends who want to get together can do, they’ve got somewhere to go. Nowhere else really opens. Liquid did it last year, but not as much as we do it – we’ve done it every year for four years at least now.”
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‘We plan to stay open late on Christmas every year’
Emma explained that around 150 to 200 people came through the door of the bar after counting started at 9pm on Christmas Day, slightly above the bar’s average of between 100 to 150.
The lifelong Oldham resident continued: “We do plan to do it every year. We open every single day, pretty much, for what we call the 16 days of Christmas, until two, three, four in the morning.
“The thing is a lot of people work, so this time of year is time for them to be able to get out whilst they’re off to work.
“Fair enough my staff don’t get to go out, but we’re out anyway because me and my staff class it as a night out that we’re being paid to do. We don’t drink, obviously, but we’re still in the same environment as people that are.”
Bees Knees to take in regulars from Harry’s Bar
Now, manager Emma says the bar will be taking in regulars from Harry’s Bar, and will extend its opening hours to account for the increased uptick in customers.
The Yorkshire Street bar, just feet away from the Bees Knees, has been rumoured to close in January.
Emma said Harry’s customers can look forward to ‘having a friendly team behind the bar’ at the Bees Knees.
She said: “With the upcoming closure of Harry’s Bar, we’ve spoken to Harry’s Bar customers and they don’t want to go anywhere else, they’re going to go down to Ashton if they can’t find anywhere to go.
“We’ve spoken to their regulars, and we’ve spoken to them in-depth about it, and we’ve said ‘if we can get you guys to come up to our venue we’re more than happy to open for you so you have still got somewhere to go’.”
‘Pubs can still go and not just become HMOs’
Emma added: “There’s another venue still opening, it’s not a pub shutting. The problem we’re seeing a lot in the hospitality industry is the venues are closing left, right and centre, and Oldham is one of the town centres that is getting hit by it badly.
“We want to prove to people that pubs can still go and not just become HMOs and takeaways and stuff like that, which is a big thing that people are saying about Oldham pubs at the minute.
“My company believes you can keep going, you can get through the majority of things. We’ve been through Covid, we’re still going through the cost of living crisis, and we’ve pushed through it, we’ve pulled out of the other end.
“We were going to have a refurb but we’re going to put a pause on that so that these Harry’s Bar customers who want to stay together in a venue where they’re going to feel welcome.”
If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Oldham. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk or click to send me a message on WhatsApp or on Signal on 07517566383.
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