Plans are in motion for a new sports bar and nightclub in North Hamilton that aims to give customers a true Bermudian experience.

Eugene Blakeney Jr, son of former politician Eugene Blakeney, is renovating his building on the corner of Court Street and Elliott Street, where Chewstick had operated for the past five years. He is in the process of applying for a nightclub licence that, if successful, will allow him to open the venue until 3am.

The club will be called Bulldog’s Bar and will screen all the major sporting events throughout the year on multiple flat-screen TVs.

At street level there would be the nightclub including a dance floor and bar serving wine and beer, while a pool hall is planned for the basement level and a dessert and coffee bar on the upper level.

Mr Blakeney Jr is planning to open a jerk centre in the garden area serving barbecued jerk chicken, beef and pork.

The adjacent Foodworx fast food restaurant will remain where it is and be incorporated into the business. Mr Blakeney said he would also like to feature regular live entertainment. “I was looking for something different for North Hamilton. We have the normal bars here but nothing really representing sports and our legends, If everything goes to plan, it will be like Flanagan’s but instead of being Irish it will have a much more Bermudian feel. There will be a large collage on the wall inside made up of all of Bermuda’s great sportsmen and women. It will showcase all of our best athletes over the years in football, cricket … all the Clarence Hills of the world, all the Clyde Bests of the world … a whole wall with our sporting legends and heroes.

“We want to get this place rocking again and if we can go ahead we will be the only alfresco place in the area.

“We aim to feature some live entertainment — hopefully we can have a live reggae night and live jazz night. As for the jerk centre, it will be a big attraction. We want to give people a taste of Bermudian culture with a Harlem renaissance flavour — a celebration of black culture. We want to show people another side of Bermuda.”

Mr Blakeney Jr said most of the work is done on the venue and, depending on the licence approval, it could be open as soon as a fortnight.

This will be the first entertainment venue opened by Mr Blakeney Jr, although he has many years’ experience in the tourism industry. He spent 20 years in the hotel industry, including time as a manager at the then Southampton Princess Hotel. He was also tourism manager in the Bermuda Department of Tourism’s Toronto office in the 80s. He has been a contractor for the past 12 years and his original plan for the building was to demolish it and turn it into 14 condos but the economy wasn’t right for it, he said.

Mr Blakeney Jr asked Chewstick to move out of the premises in November so he could launch a more lucrative business. He said: “It was a very hard decision to make. Chewstick did an amazing job of eliminating the stigma of North Hamilton — we welcome all walks of life here. We hope to attract a cross section of Bermuda and we hope Chewstick clientele will continue to patronise the business.”

Mr Blakeney said that the new venue could create about half a dozen jobs including a chef, cooks, waiters and bar staff. Asked whether he believed it was a risky time to open a business considering the current economic climate, Mr Blakeney Jr said: “Business is always a risk but this is a good area for foot traffic, our prices are very attractive both for food and drinks, and I am the landlord so that is easier on the bottom line.

“What it is, I’d love to see the area promoted. We can offer a genuine Bermuda experience to anyone coming, for example, during the America’s Cup — we can offer indigenous food they can eat jerk and drink beer and listen to good music.”