Lofty ambitions for pub mixing the old and new (October 2022)

New venue for the borough has pool table, dance floor, VIP area and a garden

A DJ from Uxbridge spent the summer getting a new bar ready for the area.

The new luxury pub, called The Loft, opened last month, after the owner noticed that Uxbridge is the only place with a university that did not have a local and affordable student bar.

Jon Blower, a 39 year old DJ and businessman from Uxbridge said, “Uxbridge needed a student pub for years. It’s the only place I know that’s got such a large student population and doesn’t have a student pub.

"Obviously they have the campus pub Locos but there is no bar near to campus; it's all a half an hour walk away from the university. This is the only town I’ve ever seen that doesn’t have a student bar and I have a good rapport with the students so I just thought it would be cool to make a bar for them.”

Originally The Loft was a pub called Load of Hay which shut down during the pandemic. When that died down they reopened for a couple of weeks but really struggled as a business and chose to shut down. 

Jon Blower explained: “The people who had this place before sort of disappeared because it was shut on and off for about 3 years due to the pandemic. 

“So this bar took about 10 weeks over the summer to make. I have been here day and night painting and building. I did all the cosmetic stuff and we got electricians to sort out the rest. 

“I have worked in so many student bars over the years so I just picked the best of all of them. Like the pink gin bar; a good friend of mine did all the pink neon lights for us and one of my partners suggested putting a pool table in so we did that. Really we just handpicked the best bits that we have seen or know that works. 

“Most bars in Uxbridge don't have a pool table so that's something that I wanted to have because it's a traditional pub. We wanted to keep the traditional bar theme but with the new twists like the neon lights and the DJ booth and big screen TV’s. Sort of mixing the old with the new.”

The bar will be expanding their food menu and currently have student discounts with 10% off of food and drinks. They also have a fantastic deal of any pizza and soft drink or beer for only £9. The pub is very affordable as a student bar and is also accessible to anyone else who wants to come down and give it a try.

Jon explains the other features of the pub that make it an all inclusive environment.

“We have a dance floor area by the DJ booth which had to be at the back end of the pub out of consideration for our neighbors because of the music. So we have the dance floor area, the pool area, the bar area, the VIP area and the garden to keep the customers and the locals happy. 

“The garden was out of use for the last five years so I had my team come in and sort of level it out. We are getting a roof to stretch over the back area of the garden. The garden is more of a feature area rather than somewhere where you just go out and smoke and come back in. We have the massive umbrellas at the back too. 

There is a lot of upcycling that has gone into the place.”

The Loft is located at 33 Villier St, Uxbridge, UB8 2PU and its Instagram and Facebook tags are @loftbaruxbridge.