Lounges was founded in 2002 by a trio of longstanding friends, Dave Reid, Alex Reilley and Jake Bishop. Having spent years in the restaurant and bar trade – not to mention just as many propping up the bars in Bristol (all of course in the name of research) – they decided it was time they did their own thing. The motivation was simple and very selfish; they wanted somewhere to drink themselves.
An empty opticians on North Street, Bristol seemed to fit the bill. It had the necessary planning permission, was just about big enough and in reasonable condition. The ‘shell’ included a kitchen so they accepted that they would be doing a bit of food, and after a few months of sort-of-not-knowing-what-they-were-doing, Lounge opened on Tuesday 29th August 2002.
They liked it a lot and so, it seemed, did a lot of other people. They pondered whether they should open another one, maybe on Gloucester Road, and in what was an absurdly short space of time they did, and Loungers was born. The rest, as they say, is history…
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