Bonded Warehouse — the former University of Sunderland Students’ Union and bar building — has reopened as a two-floor restaurant and music venue.
The building, which is still owned by the university and leased out to its current tenants, has been redeveloped from its previous configuration and now serves as a venue for a variety of different events.
Despite those changes, the outside of the building has not been changed and is a survivor of Sunderland’s industrial past.
Located on the riverside below the city centre, the venue has already played host to a number of music events and hosts several activities on a weekly basis, including quiz nights on Sundays and weekly jam sessions.
General Manager Richard Forster said: “We’ve done extensive renovations to refurbish the building and display the features of the place to bring it back to its former glory.”
He added: “We haven’t gone for lots of bells and whistles and neon lights, we wanted the building to speak for itself. We’ve been lucky enough to have a great interior designer who has managed to achieve this with the building being the feature with the brickwork, the pillars and the columns and the warehouse upstairs.”
Check out the full interview with Richard below: