Update #5 Nearly there!!!

Hi everyone, me again.

A lot has happened since my last update and it looks like we are on track for opening in November. To be honest we can open now and the only thing preventing that can be summed up in one word .... Banks. However, I think that we are nearly there on that one as well.

What do you think? Is it starting to resemble my original "Artist Impression" of the 3D model that I built. Just to remind you, here is the picture below.

As you can see from the images, we now have the back bar in place, this includes the sink

and the plumbing and of course the first stock order.

The tables and chairs have arrived and I hung a few plants up to soften the walls up a bit. I hope I can keep them alive, I'm not that great in the green finger department.

We have also started with the selection of some international wines and have had a couple of wine tasting sessions with a few people and of course, Calypso came to visit.

We had a cocktail session with another set of people and that went well with some positive feedback on the quality of the cocktails. I think that the key thing on this is using good quality ingredients and original recommended measures. I saw a post on Facebook recently where someone was commenting that they had been drinking cocktails all evening at 15 euros a drink and they seemed to be having little effect.

We started work on the new floor upstairs. The existing floor was literally the ceiling of the

downstairs bar and too much noise (and dust) was coming through.

The current idea with this room is to put a large dining table that will seat about 10 people, in the middle of the floor.

We will install some electric hotplates down the middle of the table and allow people to have a diy teppanyaki cook it yourself type event with a group of friends. Karen and I do this at home with friends and it's always good fun.

So we are putting in a floating floor upstairs with some sound proofing to dampen down the

noise. Hopefully this will be completed by the end of next week.

We also have a music system with 3 separate amps to deliver independent music streams to the bar, the veranda and the upstairs function room.

There were also a million other jobs that needed to be done, buying glasses, fixing the dishwasher, buying refrigeration, fixing electrics, running speaker wires through ceilings and walls, fixing the fan outside, fixing the awning etc. etc.

On the agenda today is buying some covers for the outside tables, ordering cleaning equipment and liquids and the really tough job of going up to Lofou to the Bes brewery to test a few beers and stock up on their wonderful Session IPA. It's a tough life.

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for all of the support and kind comments. People are popping in every day to have a look around and the response and feedback and advice is always good to have.

And thank you to Hugh from the shop next door. I gave him an off cut from the end of the bar and he made us a clock to hang on the wall.

Anyway, that's if from me and to answer the big question "When are you opening?"

Soon - ish