An Aberystwyth nightclub, that closed at the start of the pandemic, will reopen as a wine and tapas bar “imminently”.

Why Not Bar and Lounge closed on 20 March 2020 after Covid-19 hit.

It has now been announced it will not reopen as a nightclub, but instead as a wine and tapas bar, called The Courtyard, by SY23.

The head chef at SY23, Nathan Davies, said the business was keen to try “something a bit different” and decided to expand into the Why Not premises, which is owned by proprietors of SY23, Rhian and Mark Phillips.

Nathan said: “We won’t be offering the same SY23 restaurant, it will be more along the lines of what we do in Y Sgwar, so more informal. We’re not looking to do a fine dining experience.

“With everything changing, in the last 18 months it’s barely opened – maybe for a month. And it’s something that can’t really continue.

“Nightclubs and late-night venues are struggling really. For us, we’ve got a product we can put out there; we can do the tapas-style menu, a wine list and great cocktails.”

Mark said they hope to open the bar by the end of the month, but this is not certain: “In these times, there are no dancers and no dancing, so I don’t know when nightclubs will reopen.

“Furlough is coming to end so we had to make a decision on what we wanted to do. We’ve blocked off the dancefloor in Why Not temporarily and given it a full refit and redecoration to make it into a trendy wine bar in the SY23 style.

“My prime aim at the moment is protecting jobs and survival.”

Mark said staff from Why Not are “first in line” for the new jobs available at The Courtyard.

Mark added: “SY23 has been such a success; the head chef is good and talented at what he does. To have the building the size of Why Not sitting there empty, paying insurance on it, paying the furlough on it, it’s draining. After 16 months we need to look to do something.”

Nathan said the long-term future of the bar is still uncertain: “It depends on how it’s received, and what changes we need to make depending on what the guidelines are.

“We would love it to work as a tapas and wine bar. It will still have a late-night licence and we will be serving late eventually, however that won’t be the case at the start.

“But it has the capabilities of turning back into a nightclub if it doesn’t work.”

Nathan said the team at SY23 have enjoyed reopening: “It’s been really good to come back and, on the whole, customers have been really cool. Everybody has been chuffed to bits to be back out and doing stuff, enjoying a drink and socialising with friends and family.

“We still buy a lot of our produce from local businesses, so the bigger we get the better it is in terms of the more stuff we can buy from local producers and suppliers – it all fits in well with our brand.”