Plans for an axe throwing bar, completing a four-floor takeover of Aberdeen‘s former British Home Stores shop and indoor market building, have been approved.
Boom Battle Bar was pitched as a stop gap in the history of 91-93 Union Street, after the demolition of the market building was signed off last year.
The plans – including axe lanes, mini golf, curling, shuffleboard, pool, table tennis and marble tables, and smart darts – will tie in with the wider leisure complex in the BHS building, expected to open soon.
Formerly a flagship store for the retailer, it closed in April 2016.
The C-listed building, in the Union Street conservation area, has since sat empty, gaining the attention of vandals, until plans for a trampoline park were passed last March.
The nationwide firm gained permission to set up on levels one, three and four of the site previously – but this latest permission means level two is also now part of the scheme.
related to levels one, three and four of the site.
“Boom Battle Bar is a concept bar that has been developed in Flip Out proposals across the UK.
“Following the closure of British Home Stores in April 2016, the former BHS property had been vacant for a considerable period of time and had been the focus of vandalism and anti-social behaviour on several occasions.
“Planning permission was therefore pursued to allow the unit to be occupied in the shorter term whilst the broader redevelopment proposals for the Aberdeen Market are progressed, which the council both recognised and supported.
“Now that the Aberdeen Market has ceased trading, the intention is to extend the Flip Out operation to the rest of the property (across level two).”
Use of the space was made possible by the demise of the market, built in the 1970s.
Last April, councillors voted through Patrizia‘s plans to knock down the beleaguered building to make way for a “lantern-shaped”, 11-storey office development, with retail, business and cafe space.
Only two months later, site operator Aberdeen Market Village went into liquidation – prompting an earlier than imagined end for the small businesses within.
On top of the market demolition, Patrizia also plans to convert the BHS unit into offices, shops and flats.
Customers accessing Boom Battle Bar will enter through the main doors into the market, in Market Street.
Drinks will be served on the ground floor and basement, with planned improvements to be made to the toilets and kitchen areas in the tired building.
Council officers approved the plans for this extra floor to be converted after only one objection was lodged by a nearby resident, who worried about the noise and potential crime impacts of the facility.
Flip Out, the adventure bar in the adjoining building, is expected to create 25 full time and 50 part time jobs.
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