Vision can exclusively reveal the plans for the Heslington East Bar, which after considerable controversy is set to open in October 2012 this year.
The bar, which will be located in the new Langwith hub but will serve both Goodricke and Langwith Colleges, will be YUSU’s third licensed venue.
The proposed bar will serve food from 11am-9pm everyday, similar to current YUSU venue The Courtyard. Tim Ellis, YUSU President, speaking to Vision, hinted that the current plans were for the venue to be a noodle bar, a move that will undoubtedly be popular with students looking for a cuisine different to that currently offered on campus.
It will also have capacity for 200 students and an external seating area for the warmer months. Other features include soft seating, pool tables and widescreen TVs showing Sky Sports.
Crucially, the new bar will have an ATM machine outside, which will be the very first cashpoint on the Hes East campus. This is a huge victory for the Goodricke JCRC who have been campaigning for an ATM ever since the college moved over to the new campus.
Jack Baker, Langwith JCRC Chair, expressed his delight at the bars opening.
“It will finally give the residents, staff and students who work [in Hes East] a chance to eat and drink in a relaxed social space.”
However, it hasn’t always been plain sailing. The bar will just be a temporary measure until a new social and catering space is opened in 2014. The venue will then be converted into the Langwith JCR. Until then, they will share their JCR and social spaces with Goodricke.
Problems first emerged with the bar when, in an exclusive interview with Vision in May of last year, the residents of Heslington East were told by Director of Commercial Services Jon Greenwood that “lack of student demand” meant a bar venue may not be created on the site for up to 20 years.
Despite this, after campaigning by Cem Turhan (ex-Langwith Chair) and Nacho Hernando (ex-Goodricke Chair), in October 2011 YUSU formally decided to create the venue – and they have now finalised plans for its internal structure.
Baker was full of praise for the hard work of the JCRCs before him in securing the bar against the initial opposition, “It was the hard work of last year’s JCRCs of Langwith and Goodricke, along with the provosts who achieved this great feat.”
“Cem and Nacho pushed hard against the University to get the bar and get it they did.”
When Vision spoke to Turhan, he emphasised the work current Langwith and Goodricke chairs Jack Baker and Emily Miller have put in.
“I know Jack and Emily have had a lot of say in the design aspect and the noodle bar idea seems fun, like ‘Go East on Heslington East’, plus with the alcohol bar like in other YUSU venues it’s going to be brilliant.”
Nacho Hernando also expressed his pleasure at the development.
“Goodricke JCRC had been campaigning to secure a cash point and a bar for the past 3 years. As a result of this campaign, Jane Grenville met with us on a single occasion. She told us that the university was willing to create a bar on Hes East.”
“It is great to see that the work that both Cem and I initiated, with the help of Tim Ellis and our Provosts, will be able to tackle the lack of social and catering space on Hes East.”
The proposed bar is also set to create 20 new part-time jobs for students. Tim Ellis told Vision that he was happy the union would be able to provide job opportunities in the current economic climate.
“We presently employ more than 70 student staff across our commercial outlets. We are always looking at ways to increase employment opportunities for York student and the Heslington East venue allows YUSU to do just that.”
The new venue comes in the wake of the extremely successful YUSU bar, The Lounge. Since opening in October 2011 The Lounge has hosted numerous prestigious events, including the National Darts Final, Live and Loud and an Indonesian Shadow Puppet Extravaganza and has served over 10,500 cocktails.