One of Huddersfield’s best known live music venues is to re-open but under a different name.
Bar 1:22 at the end of New Street opposite Chapel Hill – which is underneath a bar called Bar Maroc – shut earlier this month.
Now Bar 1:22 co-owner Stevo Horton and Megan Pacey, current Bar Maroc manager, have revealed the news despite just days earlier announcing that Bar 1:22 had closed and “will now cease to be” on its Facebook page.
Megan and Stevo, who also co-owns Bar Maroc, said they had intended to announce the opening of Small Seeds, which will be managed by Megan and be up and running by February on Bar 1:22’s Facebook page following the closure, but have not done so.
The announced closure prompted outcries of sadness by fans on social media, but also confusion from at least one of the monthly resident event organisers, Paul Huxtable, who had been asked to play at the venue with his Axis Sound System on January 23.
Stevo will now focus on establishing music projects with young people in Morocco through Project 1:22 in Huddersfield.
He said: “We wanted to give Bar 1:22 a proper send off because this is the end of it so that’s why the announcement was posted.
“We were about to make an announcement of the new bar opening when our promoter (Paul) for our intended re-opening on January 23 pulled out due to the reaction the closure announcement got, so it’s still to be announced.
“I’ve loved every moment of Bar 1:22 but it has been closed for a while really – it’s not had regular opening hours and we were running it as a venue for hire.
“Less bands and promoters wanted to book the venue so we were focusing our energies on Bar Maroc.”
“I didn’t want Bar 1:22 to become an empty space.
“But I will have no part in the new venue.
“It will not be Bar 1:22 with a different name.
“The bar is currently undergoing substantial refurbishment.
“It will be open on a regular basis, there will be live music and community groups will still able to hire it for events.
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“I can’t say if it will be a big part of the music scene as there are a lot of other venues in Huddersfield.”
Megan, is keeping her plans for Small Seeds under wraps.
“I’ve got creative control,” she said. “I don’t want to lose the community feeling but I want to take it slow like we did with Bar Maroc.
“People can come discover it in their own time and find out about what’s planned here.”
As it stands, it will open without the Axis Soundsystem, which Paul, who was not aware of the plans, had been bringing to the space for around five years.
He said: “They never told me it was part of their plan – they should have kept me in the loop.
“It was bonkers that I try promote a gig when they publicly said the venue was closed.
“I didn’t really make any money off the night, it was about playing to the local community.
“People came from across Europe and added to the tourist trade – it was a great thing. I may come back but they will have to try explain the situation to me.”
He has no plans to move the night but will put on chilled out events elsewhere in the town.
“I will only set something up if I find somewhere with the right vibe,” he said. “At Bar 1:22 it was really relaxed. I will be bringing the sound system, however, to Magic Rock Brewery every last Sunday of the month from around 5pm to 10pm, but it will be a very chilled out session.”
