'We want to make Hanley fun again' - Inside Trinity Street's newest nightclub

The owners of Stoke-on-Trent's newest nightclub want to 'make Hanley fun again'. Chameleon launched on Trinity Street this weekend - and has a licence until 5am.

It is the brainchild of best friends and Cobridge businessmen Jack Burton and Zachary Lewis. Chameleon will also have pool, interactive darts, beer pong, and a private karaoke booth.

Jack and Zachary already operate a design consultancy and two laser-printing businesses on Trinity Street.

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Jack, aged 27, said: “We operate our businesses from Trinity Street so we saw the unit sitting there and thought ‘Why not?’” We’d always joked about opening a club together and we’d had a few missed opportunities that we wished we’d taken, so we thought: ‘No more. Let’s give it a go!’

“Our vision is to make a place where the drinks are more affordable than other places, with a lot of fun stuff to do. Basically we want it to be a fun place to hang out with your mates and play games. We’re also going to be launching a cocktail menu over the next few days, and we’re planning on getting a slushie machine, so there’ll be lots of different things for people to enjoy.

“We’re excited to get going and help bring Hanley back where it wants to be. I’ve seen a lot of people saying they miss how Hanley was back in the day, with places like Chicago’s and Boston Brothers before it all got wiped out by Covid-19. We want to bring it back to where it was and make it a fun place to be again.”

Zachary, aged 25, added: “I actually sent out an email asking people what they’d like to see in the city. Some people wanted to see it transformed into a curry house, other people wanted it to be something completely different – but the one thing everyone wanted was an actual reason to go out. Being from the local area, we felt it was really important to open somewhere in Stoke-on-Trent and help bring some life back to the city. It might have been cheaper to open a place in Manchester or Birmingham, but that’s not what it’s about for us.

“That’s where the idea for Chameleon was born. We wanted to create a flexible, versatile venue that could adapt to the needs of the city and give people what they want – something that they can get excited about.”

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