Art deco building transformed into new restaurant

An art deco building in Somerset, previously used for entertainment and leisure, has been transformed into a new restaurant named Pillars Bar and Grill.

Entrepreneur Kevin Newton and his restoration team have used the style of the “Great Gatsby era” for the new restaurant on Leigh Road. The building opened as a theatre in 1921, then became a cinema for many years, before becoming a nightclub before its closure following a New Year’s Eve Party in 2016.

A £1m investment will see the building’s original features, including an arched tin ceiling restored and twinned with new furniture and fixtures. New additions to the building will see a big screen installed, a baby grand piano for visiting performers and a ceiling feature created from the nightclub décor.

Newton said: “It is a building that has always provided leisure and entertainment for people and Pillars Bar and Grill will continue that tradition. There has been a fantastic response from local people as it has brought back to life a building that has been closed for two years.

“We have restored many of the original features and introduced some glitz and glamour and when you are sat in there you could just as easily be in New York or a fashionable part of London. We have brought back entertainment with pianists, guitarists and vocalists and on Sunday we have a Jazz brunch.”