Five days left to donate money to the Save The Rhubarb Tavern Crowdfunder

Five days left to donate money to the Save The Rhubarb Tavern Crowdfunder

Posted on: 24 Oct 2023

Thanks to the hard work of locals, the historic Barton Hill pub has been saved from developers, and now two Bristol musicians are aiming to fix it up and re-open it for the community.

 

Tara Clerkin and Sunny Paradisos (of Tara Clerkin Trio) are trying to raise enough money to save The Rhubarb Tavern as a pub, community hub and new music and arts venue. The goal is to run the space as a not-for-profit CIC and re-open it as a real public house and a space offering music, community groups, workshops, affordable food, and more.

 

With 77% of the £35,000 target already raised going into the final 5 days of the Crowdfunder, show your support HERE.

 

 

Tara and Sunny are a couple and bandmates who have lived in Bristol for over 15 years. As well as frequenting their local watering holes, the pair have an intimate knowledge of bars, pubs and clubs, having performed in every kind of establishment possible throughout the UK and Europe.

 

With this in mind, Tara and Sunny formulated a plan to combine their favourite parts of traditional British boozer with the community-centred creative spaces they’ve encountered abroad. The Rhubarb is the perfect venue for this dream. A beautiful Victorian pub, it sadly shut its doors in 2020 and Barton Hill lost its last pub.

 

A group of locals came together and created the ‘We <3 The Rhubarb Tavern’ group and have been working hard to get the building protected status so it couldn’t be developed on. Now, with the group’s blessing, Tara and Sunny are aiming to take it on and make it a resource for the local community.

Several fundraising events have been put on around Bristol, with this EP launch/fundraising show taking place at Strange Brew on Sunday 5 November

 

Using their own various talents, along with that of the local community, friends in Bristol music and hospitality veterans, The Rhubarb Tavern will be a pub complete with affordable drinks, grub, games and more; a world-class independent music venue and studio; and a community space with an extensive programme of workshops, lessons, pottery and more.

 

The pub needs extensive repairs inside and a deal has been made with the building’s owners that, if the money is raised for decorating and furnishing as well as the deposit, they will fix the roof, plumbing, heating and electrics.

 

However, that still leaves a great deal of work (including installing a bar) before the team can focus on music facilities and a kitchen. With this in mind, a series of targets have been set with £35,000 the bare minimum needed to get The Rhubarb in working order.

 

 

Browse the full list of targets, various donation rewards, and – most importantly – donate, on the Crowdfunder page - which closes on 29 October 2023.

 

For more information about The Rhubarb Tavern and the re-opening project, visit the Save The Rhubarb website.

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Article by:

Stanley Gray

Stan is a born and bred Bristolian, recently graduated from studying English Literature in Sheffield. His passions are music and literature and he spends the majority of his time in venues all over the city, immersing himself in Bristol’s alternative music scene. A lifelong Bristol City fan, Stan’s Saturdays are spent watching his team both home and away.