Former football star to open new music venue in Welsh city

A new music venue is to be opened in a historic building in a Welsh city – thanks to a former Welsh football player.

The historic Queen’s Hotel in Newport is set to reopen as the Queen’s Academy.

The pub and hotel on Bridge Street in the city centre dates back more than 150 years.

While the hotel itself has remained open through the years, the pub has had various incarnations. It was previously part of the Walkabout chain before Wetherspoon reopened it as Lloyds No 1.

It was sold to a local businessman and was most recently known as Q Newport.

Now the venue, which dates back to the 1860s and was built by a former Mayor of Newport, is reopening this month as a 500-capacity live entertainment venue feature bands, comedians and much more every weekend.

The venue is being opened by former Newport County player Darren Jones and music promoter Paul Divers.

According to the South Wales Argus, Darren had three spells at County during his career, as well as stints with Bristol City, Shrewsbury Town and Forest Green Rovers.

Post-football he was a former general manager of the Queen’s Hotel and has also run pubs around south Wales.

His business partner Paul, runs Honest Dog Promotion and spent 15 years touring the UK and Europe with bands.

The venue is looking to attract an older audience with a focus on tribute bands initially, but with plans to expand into comedy nights and also to open the pub for live sports events such as the Six Nations rugby.

The venue has a showcase planned for the end of this month, before opening fully on February 13 with Linkin Park tribute act Meteora bringing their Nu Revolution tour to the venue.

The venue has a number of shows lined featuring acts such as the UK Foo Fighters.

Find out more about the new venue and what’s coming up HERE