VIBE Bar owner wants Hull's nightlife to return to heyday of the 1980s

A Hull bar owner reckons he will be able to keep prices down despite the new budget driving costs up but says people need to change their loyalties away from big-name corporations.

VIBE Bar & Cocktail Lounge in Lowgate will keep prices the same but the new increase in national minimum wage will make it difficult, owner Dominik Litwinski told Hull Live. Despite suppliers hiking up costs, he says their cocktail deals will still offer good value and he hopes to draw in bigger crowds for an atmosphere more like how Hull was in decades past.

He said: "It's not like it used to be. We speak to a lot of people who used to go out in the 80s and 90s and 2000s and they say they used to go out Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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"It would be busy and rammed with people literally every day. But that comes down to them having more disposable income. A pint used to cost 50p or £1 so it's a lot different from now."

Dom added: "Our prices are not sky-high at all because we do deals on cocktails where if you double up you get one cocktail for £7.50 which I think is reasonable. We do happy hour deals on Fridays and Saturdays.

"On Thursday, we do 20 per cent off craft beer and two for £12 on selected cocktails. On Friday, we do a Happy Hour deal where from 9-11pm we do two-for-one on selected cocktails as well. That means you are getting a cocktail for £4.50."

Dom said VIBE's first year has been "positive" and they have been able to make exciting additions, such as the beer garden, but it has come with challenges. He said: "It is probably more difficult than we thought it would be.

"People have their own routines where they go out on a night out even if they do come in to see us. Because we are a new place, a new venue, it is hard for people to get used to Vibe being there.

"Some people are frightened to come in because it's new. They will go 'Oh it's nice in there I've seen it online' but they won't come in. There are ups and downs because sometimes when people don't come in or it's a bit quieter we feel like it is something we are doing wrong and we are blaming ourselves.

"We are seeing that pay-day weekends are busier than the middle of the month. At the minute, we are in a bit of a living crisis and people haven't got as much money in the bank as they did back in the day."

Dom added: "Speaking on behalf of all local businesses in the area, we need people to support their local businesses because we see a lot of corporations opening in Hull. They obviously are big corporations so they can compete. Try new things, try places like VIBE. Go to the bars that are local to you. Also, it's the same with restaurants and stuff. I'm guilty of this.

"When I'm hungry and I want something quick to eat I start thinking about McDonald's Drive Thru or KFC Drive Thru because it's nice and easy. What we've started doing now since we opened VIBE is instead going to the big chains for food, going to local takeaways, local restaurants that serve food just as good or even better.

"If we pay £10 towards a meal, that £10 will go toward his bills or his wage and it will still be in the family rather than paying £5 or £10 at a chain and making a millionaire a billionaire.

"A lot of local businesses now are shutting down and big corporations are opening up. For one, they get funding. With VIBE, whatever money we get we save and try and improve the bar. Since I last spoke to Hull Live we've opened up a beer garden in April and now our next goal is to open a kitchen.

"We get a lot of people coming in and asking if we do food. A kitchen will cost around £5,000 to £10,000 in investment and we are going forward with that. We are trying to improve as we go along."