Broad Street Mall plans for pop-up bar and live music
The people behind a popular steel drum band in Reading have made an exciting bid to host music events and a pop-up bar at its base in the town centre.
The CultureMix Arts creative industry company, which is best known for organising the Reading All Steel Percussion Orchestra (RASPO) has applied to hold live music events and sell alcohol at its new base in Queens Walk in Broad Street Mall. The company took over the unit formerly occupied by the Vibes Caribbean restaurant in September last year.
It has now been transformed into a hub for CultureMix Arts, which is made up of musicians, educators and entrepreneurs who perform music, provide lessons and provide skills training sessions.
The company has submitted a licensing application to Reading Borough Council to hold music lessons and performances, play music indoors and have a pop-up bar for events.
CultureMix founder and artistic director Mary Genis said: “It’s about having outside seating, we’ll have that in the summer and a pop-up bar. “The reason we’re only doing a pop-up bar is because we only want the bar when we have particular events when the bar is needed. “So it won’t be permanent. It will be there so we can host live music events, because we are specialised in live music, so mainly a steel band, the Reggae collective and other artists.
By James Aldridge
Reading Chronicle
