THE man behind Northwich's newest nightspot has 'come home' to the place he did his first job in 1984.

Steve Hilditch is director at Revival Bar, which opened at the former Stateside unit in High Street on the August bank holiday weekend.

Following a hectic few weeks running the bar during the coronavirus pandemic, he has high hopes for what it could become.

"For me it's a big learning curve because it is my first bar," Steve said.

"I used to work in here when I was 18 – back in 1984 it used to be a wine bar – so I have come home to my very first job, which is a bit weird.

"We're big on the 80s and 90s, that is our era. We were originally looking at Retros and thinking what we can do there, but then we thought we could do more here, it's a much bigger place.

"We would like to bring in live music, entertainment, discos and we thought this would be the right place to be."

The building is certainly full of potential – with bars on two spacious floors, a patio space and even a separate VIP room, which Steve hopes to open after the pandemic.

Plenty of work has gone on to get the bar looking how it is currently, and Steve says it is a work in progress.

"It was a struggle to get there but we did it thanks to some mad work from some people," he said.

"We had contractors in here until 5pm on the Friday, we had electricians and plumbers, there were people everywhere.

"We opened at 7pm on that Friday night, and a 6.45pm we were still outside putting signs up, that's how close to the wire we were."

There are ample measures in place to protect customers from Covid-19 at the bar, which is currently running at less than half its 250 capacity.

Following some difficulties in the first couple of weeks, a clear one-way system is in place, while Revival is hoping to start table service.

Steve said: "We had some difficulties with people, but we have got really good door staff.

"We had to actually close early last Saturday night because we had some issues with people not sticking to social distancing.

"We don't want people to be at risk, and we certainly don't want staff to be at risk, but we regrouped last week to make some more adjustments to the place."

The building has been home to a number of restaurants which opened and closed in quick succession over recent years – namely Zitano, Tiano, Vita Bella and Stateside.

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Steve admits people have suggested the building could be 'jinxed', but he believes it is far better suited as a bar, with it being further from Northwich's car parks than other restaurants.

"We have no intentions to do food," he added.

"It still looks a bit like a restaurant at the moment but we are trying to get away from that."