I was really excited to attend the reopening event of Lord John Russell this week. It is a venue I have attended a lot in the last 18 months the live music, the atmosphere, its been a lovely place to go. So I was very sad to hear that it would be closing last year.
I have actually been in since the unofficial opening in December and you may have seen that in my recent blog post 'New Places, Catch Up & Pucks'. It was nice to go in and see the subtle changes that have been made.
However the reopening event seemed a bit strange to me. There was a guest list for the evening, yet the venue was still open to the public, which made the guest list bit pointless. I mean you got a free ale or wine if you were on the list, so maybe thats something...
I had a good evening at the bar. One of the cool things about attending an event on your own is being able to plan an evening of going through social media and emails. I've done this before when attending events on my own, you can get a lot done while still taking in the event and your surroundings. I mixed in sociable chats, working on my phone and listening to other peoples discussions. Being sat at the bar is the best place to over hear other peoples thoughts, and there were so many that didn't know what was going on that night. There wasn't anything inside that said this was a reopening event, so I can understand why they didn't know.
The event started at 6, so I went straight from work. The events I have attended before usually have the live music starting 30-60 minutes after the event start time. But the reopening didn't have music until just over 3 hours later. Which was pretty much when I left, so I can't really tell you anything about that.
I was really pleased to see that the venue promoting their support of Mind, good job!
Again the food was in paper and card. Which kinda makes me think of #WeWantPlates. Given the emphasis we as a country are now (correctly) putting on waste and cutting plastics this seems a strange choice.
All in all, I had a nice evening, but this event wasn't the best. It didn't stand out as an event to be honest. That said it still like the venue. I will be back, but I would be a bit more wary of getting food there, given how it is being served.
I am interested to hear if any of you have visited LJR's since the reopening, what do you think?
