Hidden gem

Kelly Smith ventures into the Vaults to discover how two Birmingham business partners turned a Victorian workhouse basement into a stylish bar

Background

The partnership: Food consultant Julian Brown spent 20 years as a chef and previously owned a bar-restaurant in Birmingham's upmarket Mailbox. Russell Townsend runs Clusta, a local design agency.

"I needed someone with financial acumen," says Brown. "Russell's the sort of person who can look at a sheet of figures and pick out all the details he needs in a few minutes, while I'm still gazing at it in bewilderment."

The Vaults: Brown and Townsend searched high and low for a venue offering something truly unique. In the summer of 2006 they found it - in the labyrinth-like basement of Birmingham's oldest known workhouse (circa 1860), in the city's diverse Jewellery Quarter. While the upper floors of the Grade II-listed building had been converted to offices and apartments, the cellar had been abandoned.

"The building is very interesting - it has lots of alcoves and Victorian red-brick vaulted ceilings, which are beautifully engineered and give it a great feel," says Brown.

The partners took out a 15-year lease on the upper floor of the basement, which underwent a £2m restoration on its lower floor. In November 2007, 18 months after the first viewing, they opened the Vaults.

Tough Challenge

Restorations have a habit of becoming lengthy affairs. But red tape and conservation guidelines were not the only hurdle the pair had to face.

"Dealing with the builders wasn't easy," admits Brown. "I found their technical talk rather mystifying.

"But more to the point, they were six weeks behind on the project, which meant opening - and getting the team gelled and systems ready - with only a one-week run-up to the Christmas season.

"We were running like a battleship - six weeks late plus teething problems. It's not until you start running a business that you realise not everything in the plan is necessarily practical.

"But everyone knuckled down. Our staff stepped up to the challenges brilliantly and had the experience to adapt quickly and professionally."

PR and marketing

A good chunk of the budget was set aside for the website, print work, and a PR agency to promote the launch - money well spent, considering the size of the project.

But despite this, Brown believes the most effective medium was free: the ubiquitous social networking site, Facebook.

"Facebook is a great marketing tool. We had a really good New Year's Eve, after only being open a month. I've heard it wasn't that busy for a lot of people in the trade. I don't know if it was down to us or thanks to the Facebook exposure - maybe a bit of both. We were still going strong at 3am, while a lot of places were done by about 1pm or 2pm," he says.

The bar's website, vaultsbirmingham.com,

endeavours to build on the Vaults' growing customer database by offering a luxury three-course meal competition as an attractive incentive to join its online members' club.

Cost: £10,000

Building work

The reason for the basement premises being left derelict for so long was its entrance - or rather lack of it. As the narrow street-level entry was unsuitable, a new one had to be created from the adjacent building.

The landlord was responsible for the tricky, time-consuming task of putting in the new entrance, which meant digging down 30 metres to prepare a lift-shaft and fitting a double-width staircase.

"That was one of the reasons the work took so long," says Brown. "I don't think anyone realised how much time it would take to dig the hole for the shaft and engineer the metalwork to install the staircase."

Other major work included taking up the brickwork floor, laying a concrete shelf beneath it to strengthen the building, and sandblasting the brickwork in the walls and ceilings back to the original state.

Cost: £1,140,000

Results

"There are so many bars in Birmingham with open vast spaces, which is great on Friday and Saturday nights, but for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, you need somewhere people can come without feeling as if they're in a very exposed setting," explains Brown.

"We wanted to create a venue with an atmosphere and intimacy during the week but also offered enough capacity at weekends - 375 people can fit in here comfortably."

While food is a strong focus, cultivating a solid wet trade (60% to 40% dry) was always a crucial part of Brown and Townsend's plan, who aim to take turnover past the £1m mark within three years.

The partners recognise the need for an inclusive approach to their customer base - one that extends beyond catering for neighbouring banking firms and architectural practices and builds the Vaults' reputation as "simply a great local bar" among the city's growing number of residents and visitors.

Brown adds: "We like to think of the Vaults as the sort of place you'd come for one drink but decide to stay for three."

Design and layout

With its series of alcoves - like ready-made booths - the Vaults lends itself perfectly to private drinking. Its slightly clandestine feel meant that achieving the intended level of intimacy wasn't difficult.

The U-shaped floor is split into two passageways. The main bar area and 70-cover restaurant are on either side of a glass partition, with each leading down respective corridors to its own set of booths.

Each of the nine bar-booths has its own atmosphere, controlled by dimmer and volume switches, plus a light to alert waiting-staff's attention.

Some have the added seclusion of blue velvet curtains, which create a sumptuous feel against the hard brick walls.

The ninth - a poker or meeting room depending on time of day - is closed off by padded leather doors. "Its big circular table is great for having a few drinks and imagining you're Al Capone," says Brown.

There's a similar set-up on the dining side, where all three booths have a view into the kitchen, allowing customers to experience some theatre while they wait. Then there's the Sopranos room, a 20-person private dining area, which is ideal for special occasions.

"You can have a good time in there without having to go the trouble of hiring a special venue," says Brown.

Because of the exposed brickwork there wasn't a great deal of decorating to do. "It was very simple," recalls Brown. "We wanted it to be stylish, but it was important to avoid it becoming over-stylised and intimidating."

A local company supplied the furniture and fittings, including Gucci-style dining tables. Much of the decoration was provided by Brown's own eclectic collection of contemporary art, some of which he'd consider selling to customers if he thought

the price was right.

Cost: £50,000

Kitchen

"I would describe our menu as contemporary food with simple, quality ingredients that speak for themselves," says Brown, whose catering background is visible in the Vaults' seasonal, locally sourced top-end fare.

Dishes include steaks, confit of duck, and monkfish with chorizo. Traditional puddings are given a modern twist, such as apple crumble and pomegranate ice cream.

Posh nosh it may be, but Brown is eager to demonstrate what he calls the "Midlands mentality" of value-for-money.

"It won't make a huge dent in our customers' pockets - you could enjoy dinner for two with a bottle of house wine for about £60," he says.

"We want people to leave feeling satisfied. It's about offering good portions that still look good on the plate."

Cost: £40,000

Bar

"Our bar staff enjoy spirits and get excited about different types of gin and vodka. They're cocktail-makers," says Brown.

"We're not just banging out vodkas and tonics and making the maximum profit; we do care about the spirits we pour."

The same goes for the wine list. More than 50 wines - 18 red, 18 white, three rosé,