Following an abrupt closure late last year, The Wick at Both Ends has remained missing from the city centre’s bar scene, but work is now underway to restore the longstanding venue back to its former glory ahead of a grand reopening this spring.
The bar has been taken over by a triumvirate of West Street venue owners, including Metin Arslan, who has worked at Efes for the last ten years and is now one of the partners in the restaurant. He told us how the group plan to revitalise the venue, opening seven days a week and bringing back its partying heyday.
He said: “We’ll be a bar and pub from midday until around 10pm, turning into a club and late bar until 3am, opening up the space for a dance floor.
How The Wick looked back in 2015
“We’ll keep it close to what it was before, and the name will remain the same. It’s been a bar for a long time – it was Scruffy Murphy’s before it was The Wick – so we didn’t want to change that, but it will also be a little bit different to what it was before.
“During the day, we’ll serve food. The menu is being finalised, but it will be around classics like burgers and bar snacks. We’ll mostly be a bar and club though, so it will be a smaller food menu.”
Metin tells us that over the years the bar has been neglected, which is why they have decided to give the venue a full refurb, including a whole new bar, new floors, new windows which will open up during the summer months, and a freshening up of all the toilet facilities and kitchen. They also plan to put TV’s in for live sports.
“We want to make it a vibrant place in Sheffield again.” Says Metin, “It’s already well-known but we want to make it even more popular.”
Metin and his two partners became involved with the bar when the previous tenants left unexpectedly. Metin explains: “One of my partners owns the off-license next to The Wick, and he used to sell alcohol to them. He didn’t know they were closing, and they owed him some money. He managed to get in touch with the owners in Dubai and they paid the money back, and then they were gone.
The old frontage
“He happened to know the landlord as well, so he contacted them and told them that their tenants had left. They didn’t believe it. They didn’t know anything about it, which is when we decided to offer to take on the lease ourselves. The landlord was happy, so we started the renovations.”
That work is ongoing and the new owners are hoping to be open later in the spring. “We are feeling confident,” says Metin, “we know it’s a good spot and it has its own customer base already, so I’m feeling very good about it.
“We will make it a vibrant place for Sheffield people, whether that’s students or locals, to be able to come and eat, drink and have a good time.”
Keep your eyes peeled on Exposed for opening dates and first look inside the revamped venue.
