Wednesbury Conservative Club building re-opening as new entertainment venue
An entertainment venue will soon be opening its doors at the former Wednesbury Conservative Club building.
Around 15 jobs will be created at the newly named Churchill's Bar and Restaurant in Walsall Street, after it was snapped up by Chris Wardle and Jeanette Partridge.
The pair are aiming to transform the club back into a family friendly entertainment complex – with ambitious plans for tribute evenings, charity events and weddings in the pipeline.
Mr Wardle, who has owned the town's Churchill Social Club in St Mary's Road for eight years, said: "The minute the club went on the market earlier this year we knew we wanted it.
"At the minute we are about eight weeks away from the official opening but are already booked for our Christmas tribute evenings.
"Our wedding suite will be named after Tunisia terror attack victim Patrick Evans as he used to have links to the Wednesbury Conservative Club too.
"We just want it to be a great place to visit again – somewhere that people can come with their children and bring their gran too."
Alongside the wedding suite there is a restaurant, function room and entertainment lounge with four bars and an outside pavilion.
Mr Wardle said: "It was sad to see the demise of the club but a lot of people are coming to us now saying that they love the fact we've moved into here and can bring that old community spirit back.
"We have so many plans under our belts, including a membership and loyalty scheme, wedding fairs and a murder mystery weekend. We want to make it the centre of the town again."
Wednesbury Conservative and Unionist Club shut its doors in January after more than 140 years.
In 2011 members were asked to dig into their own pockets to keep the club afloat and avoid it having to take out long-term loans. In its heyday the club had around 3,000 members.
On Sunday a Smile for Joel event will be taking place at Churchill's. Joel Richards, aged 19, died with his uncle, Adrian Evans, and grandfather, Patrick Evans, in the Tunisia beach massacre on June 26, 2015.
Joel's mother Suzy Richards and her surviving son Owen, 16, have created Smile for Joel to support others who have lost family members in a similarly harrowing manner. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/churchhillsocialclub.co.uk or call 01215563345.
