Clubbers between the ages of 18 and 21 will have an extra hour of socialising on Friday and Saturday nights – after a St Helier bar was granted permission to extend its weekend opening hours.
Chambers, on Mulcaster Street, will now close at 02:00 instead of 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Currently, there are just two nightclub venues open until 02:00 in St Helier: Vittoria (formerly Mimosa), and The Drift at The Royal Yacht – both of which have a 21+ entry policy.
The application to extend Chambers’ opening hours by venue owner Randalls was approved by the Licensing Assembly this morning.
Randalls said it hopes to reverse the recent decline in Jersey’s nightlife – which has seen a string of venues closing across town recently, including ROJOs last July and Havana at the end of December.
Managing Director Gavin Reid told the Licensing Assembly that there was still strong demand for late-night venues, particularly among younger customers.
“We have seen a market for the younger people, 18-24, looking for somewhere to go,” he said.
“By extending these hours, we can fill that market.”
Speaking to Express last month, Mr Reid explained that, while there were less people going out at the start of the week than during the island’s nightlife heyday, there remained high demand towards the weekend.
“I don’t envisage nightclubs opening on Monday or Tuesday nights like they used to, but people want to socialise towards the end of the week – and we’ve seen Chambers proving busy up until closing time at 01:00,” he said.
“We’ve already got the key infrastructure in place in terms of security and equipment, so would hope we’re well placed to make the change once the necessary permission is in place.”
The application was approved unanimously at a St Helier licensing assembly, and faced no objections from the police.
Mr Reid said he hoped to introduce the new closing time by Easter – adding that the venue planned to book UK bands and DJs to attract customers.
“The industry still has restrictions on Good Friday until we can get the new Licensing Law in place, but after that I’d hope we’d be ready to go,” he said.
The closure of Havana in December followed a string of recent closures of nightlife venues – including ROJO, WYSIWYG, Ce Soir and Kokos.