A NEW cocktail bar is set to open at a popular Barrow restaurant and bar.

The Custom House is opening the bar in what will be the final piece in the puzzle of a six-figure refurbishment of the building.

Cherrie’s Cocktail Bar is due to open in eight days’ time and is another new addition to the building following a change of ownership last year.

The bar takes its name from The Custom House owner’s mum Cheryl.

Liam Quigley had held designs on opening the bar since he took over the business in August last year.

Mr Quigley said nine days of work have already been carried out on the bar.

He said: “We want this to be one of the places to go on a Friday or Saturday night

“It is going to be an upmarket bar rather than anything cheesy.

“I have wanted to add this to the building for a while.

“We are only doing it now because we have done so much other work in recruiting staff and refurbishing other parts of the building like the restaurant.”

All the work on the interior of the bar has been carried out by local businesses, which Mr Quigley said he wanted to support.

“There have been a good number of businesses in the town that have not been doing well and that’s why I want to use them," he said.

He said the cocktails on offer would all be sweet in taste in tribute to the ice cream parlour in the building.

The business in the Abbey Road building is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The cocktail bar is set to hold its first party on May 5.

Mr Quigley said he already had two bookings for 80 people and another for 120 people.

“Already people are showing an interest before we’ve opened, which is great,” he said.

Mr Quigley is the director of The Coastal Group and owns several businesses involved in payroll.

The laserzone that was previously in the building is no longer in place, with the third floor now home to the business’s head office. A major refurbishment of the restaurant was undertaken last year.