An Insight Into..:2519

The Brickmakers

12/04/18

This April sees the celebration of you in charge of this fine establishment for 15 years – a big one! Firstly, will you celebrate in the same way, with a secret band?

Oh yes, it’s such a fun thing to do. In the month leading up to the event all our customers and staff try to guess who it is, staff are often bribed with a drink to try and get them to tell customers who is playing which is hilarious because the only ones who know that are me, Emma and Pam.  If you want to see who's on, you’ll just have to turn up. I’d get in early though as we always get full up on our birthday party.

Some things are obvious to see, but from your perspective, how has running a pub changed in 15 years?

Well I guess you have to look at it from two different angles, theres running a pub and then there’s running a music venue, we do both and they blur in the middle.  Running a pub isn’t easy these days, overheads just keep going up and beer prices are high, especially to venues like us who are tied to a Pub Co. It can be hard to tempt potential customers off their sofas when supermarkets make it so cheap to drink in the comfort of your own home. I don’t think that you will ever be able to replace to sense of community and social interaction you get by going to your local though. When there’s a good band on too, well then thats a bonus.  Running the music venue side of things is the fun side of our fantastic venue. We are so lucky to have a huge wealth of talented bands here in the city that grace our stage every night of the week. That is one thing that hasn’t changed, in fact it just gets better all the time.

You have to balance being a renowned music venue with being a popular community pub in Sprowston – how do you satisfy both music fans and locals?

We have a very loyal bunch of regulars that are here irrespective of what’s on the stage.  They enjoy a bit of banter with the staff and each other over a quiet (ish) pint after work and are very often heading home before the bands begin their stint.  Luckily most of our locals are music fans so the balance is set by them really. We do our best to get involved in our local community as much as possible, raising money for local schools on our charity days and getting involved with local groups such as the Sprowston Youth Engagement Project, the local dementia Cafe and working alongside Rev Simon Stokes at St Cuthberts Church opposite. Sprowston has been my home for over 35 years (Oh I sound old) and it’s very important to us to maintain our place in the heart of the community.  We are very lucky to have such lovely staff, customers and awesome bands, between them all they make The Brickmakers what it is. 

You must’ve had many highlights over those 15 years, not least winning British Music Pub of the Year… twice! What did it feel like to get that recognition?

God yes, too many to pick out a favourite. The last 15 years have flown by really, but working in the pub environment can be like that at times, one day tends to roll into the next and before you know it another week has passed. I swear sometimes that if I didn't have two dogs that needed walking every day there would be some days I would probably not even leave the building.  Winning British Music Pub of The Year was amazing, I mean, most of the time we like to think we’re doing what we do well,  but it’s an awesome feeling when the industry recognises it and pats you on the back.  We don’t get it right all the time, but we do what we do, the best we can and hope that everyone enjoys The Brickmakers experience.  Winning the award once was brilliant, and then a second time was unreal.  Not winning it is good too, it makes you stand back and look at yourself and your business to see what you can improve on, how you can make it better. It’s healthy to have that side of it too or you just walk fast standing still.

What do you put the wins down to?

Well I think the first time around we were up against some amazing venues, but the sheer fact that we had bands on seven nights a week set us a bit above those that were offering music on the weekends alone.  Having the PA install, the lighting and sound engineers also raised us into a different league, it bridged the gap between pub and venue. The second time we won it, B2 was coming into its own and saw us offering music seven nights a week over the two venues.  There was no other music pub like it in the UK.  The award itself  however, is really a tribute to our staff, customers and bands, its those guys that won it really, where would the Brickies be without those guys? just a building….

 You’ve had some notable performances in the venue over the years, but there was one particular ginger lad that has passed through and performed… could you have predicted then, the massive success that Ed Sheeran would have?

Ed always had something special, he was so talented and mesmerising to watch. he had a knack of capturing you and holding your attention. It was very clear even from the days of our acoustic tent at Brickfest that he was on a path to big things. We always knew he wasn’t going to be around for long and lo and behold the next year he was a superstar.

Who else are you super proud to have welcomed on to the Brickies stage?

Wow, well we have been extremely lucky.  We’ve had some awesome bands pass through on their way up including You Me At Six, Don Broco, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Janet Devlin, King Blues, Sonic Boom Six and Deaf Havana to name a handful.  We have also had some great classic acts on our stage too such as The Animals, Oliver Dawson Saxon, Hawklords, The Cutting Crew, and The Quireboys (which was surreal as I used to have a poster of them on my bedroom wall when I was 15. Then 20 odd years later he’s sitting in my mums living room eating lasagne, watching Eastenders before their show!)

You strengthened your reputation a few years ago with the addition of B2, which particularly gives a space for up and coming bands to play, and more hardcore and niche offerings – it’s obviously important to you to support that embryonic talent…

Yes more than ever these days, more and more schools don't offer music as an option, it’s so important to us to offer somewhere where young people can come and play and develop their musical individuality. You can’t buy experience and there’s no better way to hone your musical skills than getting out there and playing to an audience.  At the end of the day, these talented young people are the future of the Norwich music scene and it is our responsibility as venues to nurture that talent. Who knows? one of them might be the next Ed Sheeran or You Me At Six.

What do you think of Norwich’s music scene at the moment?

Its abundant and thriving. We are so lucky and very proud to be in amongst it all. Every year we see so many new bands emerging, it just keeps getting better and better. This year’s Metal To The Masses competition for example plays host to 25 bands battling it out to win a chance to play at the infamous Bloodstock festival.  There must be 15 bands taking part this year that are new names to me. This just goes to show how rich in music Norwich is, and that’s across the board, not just in one specific genre.  It’s not until you head to other cities that you realise how very musical our fine city really is, and how good all the venues are at taking that talent and making it available to everyone to enjoy. That’s what music is all about isn’t it?

What is the future for one of Norwich’s most treasured music venues?

Hahaha well if you speak to Pam or Em at this point they would probably be rolling their eyes.  We plan to keep offering the best music we can to our customers, thats for certain.  I’m a big dreamer and I always cook up crazy ideas in the wee hours (funnily enough, buying The Brickmakers was one of them!)  Brickfest is our main event of the year which just keeps getting bigger, in fact it’s almost outgrown itself, I did put forward the idea of putting another stage onto the car park so we can fit in more acts, I mean, 38 bands in one day really isn’t enough is it? Brickfest has become such a successful event that we have had to stop letting in by 5pm for the last three years, we physically cannot fit more customers in. There are always far out ideas of expanding, making the pub a little bigger so we can increase our capacity but the building belongs to the Pub Co so thats not really an option. That said, we would never want to risk losing the feel of The Brickmakers, it has quite a unique atmosphere and so much history, oh if these walls could talk! What’s in our future, well as long as in another 5 or 10 years down the line we are still doing what we do now and doing it well then we’ll be more than happy.

Charley, you’ve balanced being a musician with running the business; have those two worlds always run together smoothly?

No of course not, In the early days of Pure Passion back in the 90’s we would give 3 to 4 times a week and rehearse on the days we weren't gigging.  Taking on the pub meant a compromise was in order and quite a large one. I’m lucky though because I love my job, I’m passionate about music in all forms which means the compromise is worth it.  As myself and members of the band have gotten older, life takes over -we’ve all got jobs that take a lot of our time and have settled into a mode that works for us all.  We gig a couple of times a month, this usually coincides with my days off and luckily Pam and Em are there to hold the fort when I’m off playing rockstar for the night. Because there are three of us running the pub, it means there are always two others that can be on hand when life takes over, which it does occasionally. It works especially well when I gig here, it’s like playing a home game. I played my first gig here when I was just 14 so it’s like a comfy pair of shoes really.  We’re also fortunate to have an awesome bunch of sound engineers that can cover me when I'm gigging. To be fair, I couldn't go and gig without them, especially Clive who is my number 2 at the desk. It’s important for me personally to keep playing,  it’s a constant reminder of why I do what I do, my love of music and generally blowing off a bit of musical steam. Nothing beats that buzz of rockin’ out with a Les Paul!

You are personally always busy with side musical projects, as well as Pure Passion – what have you got going on at the moment?

I’ll be totally honest here, I’ve had to make myself slow down a bit.  I got to the point about a 18mths ago where I had taken on so much it was starting to affect my health.  At the time, I was in two bands, running a 40 member choir and running the pub. It all became a bit too much. Something had to give and it couldn't be the pub, or Pure Passion. So, much to many peoples disappointment I had to give up running the choir and cut back on my musical activities a bit. Basically, I had to learn to say no, it’s not something i’ve ever been very good at, especially where music is concerned but it was essential for me to stop and take stock.  It was the right thing to do, I have a better balance now between the pub, the band and my personal life (yes I do have one). Priorities change as you get older and I think for me, that’s more than enough to keep me occupied, for 2018 at least.