Weekender: Sports bar to launch in town centre

After over 15 years of trading, The Yard in Ilkley has been taken over by local couple Lawrence Doyle and Kezia Bellamy.

They have been transforming the venue into a new, premium sports bar.

The bar which is due to open this evening – 31 January – has undergone a considerable refurbishment and will show all major sporting events on both Sky Sports and BT Sports, with an emphasis very much on the ‘Play’ aspect of its ‘Eat, Drink, Play’ concept.

Eat will include food such as tacos, burritos, wings, burgers and dirty fries. Drink will comprise craft beers, gins, wines, cocktails, slushies and shakes and the Play aspect, in addition to the live sports, will offer a range of entertainment such as pool, shuffleboard, beer pong, soft tip darts, bingo and pub quiz nights.

Doyle has worked in a variety of hospitality venues including bars, nightclubs and Rosette restaurants, in various positions from Mixologist to Chef to GM. Kezia has also always worked in the industry before, during and after her studies. The pair met seven years ago whilst working in a bar in Liverpool.

They were also the successful general manager and assistant general manager team at The Ticket Office in Ilkley, until very recently.

Their venue’s extensive transformation includes new booth seating, hand-made furniture created by the couple, brand new bar design and state of the art audio-visual equipment and screens.

Bellamy said: “We decided on the name ‘Hub-Vybe’ because we want to become the social Hub of Ilkley. The second part of our plans will focus on an exclusive cocktail bar using the venue’s upstairs space and capitalising on Lawrence’s mixology experience, that will have a different Vibe to downstairs. Hence the name.

“We have watched the Ilkley bar scene change considerably in the time we have been here and noticed a gap in the market for a premium sports bar. We felt The Yard fitted the model fantastically well and jumped at the chance to snap up the venue.”

The couple want to open multiple sites over the next five years.

Doyle said: “We’re really excited to be undertaking our very own project and our first business together. After a month of hard work, we cannot wait to be open and show everyone the fantastic results.”

Hub-Vybe opens to the public this evening from 7pm. The venue will continue to open until 3am on a weekend with a new DJ system and resident DJs Jack City and James Oliver.