Milky Quayle interview at Paramount City

Tindle News

Media Isle of Man's Adam Morton speaks to former TT rider Milky Quayle about him and his wife's barber and coffee shop venture 'Paramount City' on Douglas Promenade.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, well, welcome to Paramount City Coffeehouse and Barbers.

00:03It's my wife and myself's dream, I suppose, really.

00:07Yeah, we just...

00:09My wife's a barber, and we've always rented our shops,

00:12and we just thought it's time for us to be our landlord, really.

00:15So for the last 12, 15 years, we've always rented,

00:18so we thought, well, we need to buy a commercial property, really,

00:21so we can be our own landlord.

00:24So, yeah, we used to walk the dog on the beach here.

00:27I used to work here at Paramount City.

00:29I worked here for four years.

00:31I met my wife here at the bar,

00:33just where those girls are stood there now.

00:35So, yeah, we've got a bit of history with the place, you know?

00:38And then we used to walk the dog on the beach,

00:40and we looked at it and thought, oh, isn't it a shame?

00:42It's going to rack and ruin.

00:44So a bit like when you go and have a look at a puppy,

00:46we thought, well, we'll go and have a look at it,

00:48and sure enough, within ten minutes of walking in here, we'd bought it.

00:51So, yeah, so maybe it's a little bit of a midlife crisis, I suppose.

00:55It's been tough. It's been four years, really.

00:58Four years in the going.

01:01We really stretched ourselves to buy it initially,

01:04so we had no real contingency to do anything on it.

01:07So just as we've worked along and got a bit more money,

01:10we've done a little bit more, done a little bit more,

01:12and myself and Lydia, you know, we've done it ourselves as well.

01:15You know, we've not got any contractors or anything in.

01:17We've pretty much done it all ourselves.

01:19So blood, sweat, and tears.

01:21So, yeah, so it's, you know, we made up with it.

01:23It's brilliant. You know, it's nice.

01:25You know, today's obviously the first day it's open,

01:27so, yeah, just, again, we're a bit unsure.

01:31I've never run a coffee shop. I've never run a cafe,

01:33you know, a pizzeria or anything like that,

01:35so I'm very fortunate I've got some good members of staff.

01:38You know, Natty Nathaniel, he's my brother-in-law.

01:40He's running the kitchen. He's a chef.

01:42He's a top pizza chef, so probably, well,

01:44I'm probably going to say he's probably one of the best on the Isle of Man.

01:47So, yeah, so he's our chef, really.

01:50I've got Will, who's a barista, and he's our barista,

01:53so he's looking after all the coffee side of things.

01:55Myself, I'm just cleaning the toilets and mopping the floor, really.

01:58So, yeah, that's my job.

02:00How's the process been, then, to get it ready?

02:02Yeah, it's been real stressful.

02:04I mean, it's one of those things that I think

02:06whenever you set yourself a deadline, you think, yeah,

02:08because if we hadn't have set the deadline,

02:10then we'd just be ambling along again still, you know what I mean?

02:13And so to set a deadline, it gives you, you know,

02:16the push to get on and get done, so we've had, yeah,

02:19the last two weeks have been crazy.

02:21You know, we've had, like, 20-hour days, you know, every night,

02:24so four hours kip, so we are running on empty at the moment,

02:28but, you know, the excitement of opening is keeping us going,

02:32and so, yeah, so we'll probably take a bit of a dip

02:35maybe at Christmas Day or something.

02:37We can have Christmas Day off and try and recharge the batteries,

02:40but, yeah, we're made up with it.

02:42We wanted to keep the ethos of Paramount City

02:44because, like I say, our generation, it's quite an iconic building

02:49and it's, you know, an iconic place.

02:51A lot of people have met here and maybe divorced here as well,

02:54so, yeah, it's got some good memories, hopefully, for lots of people.

02:58I know it has for us, and, you know, that's where we want to try

03:01and keep it that way.

03:07Yeah, honestly, 100%.

03:09You know, I mean, I was driving my bus.

03:11I've still got my day job. I'm still a bus driver.

03:13I was driving my bus last night, and there was people even saying to me,

03:16you know, I can't wait for it to open.

03:18I'm glad someone's doing something with that building.

03:20You know, at the right time, someone did something with it.

03:22So, yeah, we are made up, really.

03:25It's nice to put a little bit of life back into the building again.

03:28I mean, you are only a custodian of a building, aren't you?

03:30You don't own it. You're only a custodian,

03:32and hopefully we're going to spend some happy times here

03:35and keep it going, and then maybe in 20 years' time

03:38someone else can do the same again and keep going.

03:41So, yeah, it's a fantastic place.

03:44I mean, I've never...

03:46This is the first time I've ever lived by the sea,

03:48so I'm a bit of a country bumpkin, really,

03:50and I've never lived by the sea,

03:52but now I'll never move away from the sea.

03:54This view is fantastic.

03:56It's just that...

03:58It's a great spot.

03:59Yeah, they're always going about location, location, location,

04:01and this is prime location.

04:03So, yeah, it's a lovely place to live.

04:06It's going to be a lovely place to work.

04:07Obviously, I haven't got much of a commute now

04:09because obviously I'm just upstairs.

04:11So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.

04:14Great.

04:15What are the open hours going to be like over Christmas?

04:17Have you got any idea?

04:20Yeah, again, open hours and stuff are all a little bit...

04:23It's all a little bit new and fresh to us, really.

04:25So, yeah, but ultimately today we're open from now,

04:28from 12 till 6.

04:29Tomorrow we're going to be open from 8 till 8.

04:32And then I think Christmas Eve we're closing.

04:35Christmas Day, obviously, we're closing.

04:37And I think Boxing Day we're going to open from 10 till 2,

04:39something like that, just a little thing.

04:41So we just need to find our feet a little bit, really,

04:43with everything.

04:44Obviously, we're still waiting for the bar licence.

04:47We've applied for an alcohol licence.

04:49So we're going to have that in the next couple of months,

04:51I would say.

04:52So the main priority was really to get the place open,

04:56get the barbers open, get the cafe open.

04:58And then the next couple of months then we'll get the licence

05:01and we'll be able to serve alcohol as well.

05:03Would you ever say you'd be open to doing functions?

05:05Yes, I think so.

05:06Yeah, definitely.

05:07Again, I want to keep the ethos of the building.

05:09And we actually had one here last Friday night, actually.

05:11It was Abbey's, Liddy's sister's 50th birthday.

05:14So we had a bit of a bash in here to christen it, I suppose.

05:18So, yeah, it's crying out for that side of things.

05:21I mean, that's why I've reinstated all the DJ booth.

05:23You can come and sit in the DJ booth and then that converts back

05:27into a DJ booth when we have a function.

05:29So, you know, it's, yeah, I can't wait to see it.

05:32You know, chocolate.

05:33Yeah, yeah, yeah, really good, really good.

05:35I mean, that's the thing.

05:36It's a multi-purpose building, really.

05:38We've got lots of things going on, a bar, a cafe,

05:40a pizzeria, barbers, you know, and we have actually the room

05:44at the top there that's going to be converted

05:45into a tattoo studio.

05:47So Amber behind the bar there, she's training to do tattoos.

05:50So if she ever wants it, she can have that little room

05:53to do her tattoos as well.

05:54So that would be quite nice, yeah.

05:56Wonderful, that's great.

05:57Good lad, thank you.

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