One café bar is planning to bring a little bit of Nashville to York.
FortyFive Vinyl Cafe, on Micklegate, is known for it’s great live music, vinyl collection, and tasty grilled cheese sandwiches – and new owners are set to take it in a new direction.
It was taken over by Ian and Rebecca Reid in November last year, and they’re on a mission to introduce York to country music.
The popular cafe and bar has had a makeover, with more posters on the walls, signed memorabilia, themed tables – you can sit at the Taylor Swift table or David Bowie table for example – and a door for musicians to sign when they play the venue.
Ian, who doesn’t have a background a hospitality and worked in corporate credit, found himself wanting to take on a new venture after he retired. Along with his wife, Rebecca, they have a passion for live music – particularly new country music, after they fell in love with the genre while touring the States.
They visited The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, an iconic cafe that’s famous for having big stars like Taylor Swift and Faith Hill play there in ‘career defining’ moments, and were inspired to bring something similar to York.
“I’m not saying we’re going to be like that, but it inspired us to try and bring the music that we love here,” Ian told YorkMix.
Ian and Rebecca took over the cafe bar last year. “It’s been a baptism of fire,” said Ian. “I think it’s been going well. It’s been very busy but it’s lovely – we love hearing customers say ‘wow this looks great’ or ‘is that signature on that guitar real’. That’s what we like to do, talk to people about music.”
It’s aiming to be a ‘destination’ venue where people can visit for a coffee or a beer and also play the music they like – as there’s a jukebox that’s free to use.
They are keen to host lots of artists and musicians – and already have some exciting events planned.
“We want to try and carve out something different.”
One event they have coming up is a ‘Transatlantic Jam’ on Saturday 13 April, where Leeds musician Luke Flear will play live at FortyFive Vinyl Cafe and American country music artist Brian Collins will be on a livestream simultaneously from Atlanta.
Though the cafe has seen some changes, one thing that’s staying the same is the food and drinks menu – though at some point a Nashville hot chicken grilled cheese may be added to the menu!
“Our biggest dream would be to create a place that will help somebody make it big – we’d like to find that Taylor Swift, that’d be lovely.
“And we’d like bands to want to come and play here because they’ve heard what it’s like, and I want it to be a place where the people in York can come and enjoy music and perhaps music they haven’t heard before.
“We’d like to give people somewhere where they can buy a record and listen to good music.”
FortyFive Vinyl Cafe & Listening Room is open seven days a week, 10am to 5pm. For more information about upcoming events and to book your tickets, visit their website here.
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