Our bar and gig venue has worked so well we're opening a second one across Greater Manchester

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
A popular bar which has become a fundamental part of a Greater Manchester town’s nightlife is to open a new venue in Wigan.

Bask, which opened in Stockport in 2022, will open a second site called Bask Live in the town centre this summer. The speakeasy-style bar and music venue will take over the former Indiependence building on King Street West after the club closed its doors in February this year.

Bask was the brain child of music promoter Benji Taylor who co-owns the company with Simon Silcock who is from Wigan.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Simon Silcock, who owns the Wigan venueSimon Silcock, who owns the Wigan venue
Simon Silcock, who owns the Wigan venue

Benji originally planned to open a vegan restaurant at the site, but had to change direction when issues arose with the fitting on an extraction fan at the large venue in Stockport.

He said: “My girlfriend’s dad worked with Simon at Curry’s and over lockdown I was making these vegan truffles. He took some in and Simon liked them and said do you want to come in for a meeting and we can talk about maybe investing in it.

"We went in and worked out some numbers and he was like ‘this seems a bit too small fry where do you see this going?’ So I mentioned I’d love to have a vegan restaurant where he said right lets do it, write me a menu, I’ll find a space and take it from there.

Bask will be opening a second venue in Wigan this summerBask will be opening a second venue in Wigan this summer
Bask will be opening a second venue in Wigan this summer

"We found this space in Stockport and four months down the line we had issues with the council who owned the building about putting extraction in.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We then came up with Bask which is a seven-day-a-week operation, we open at 8am where we serve breakfast and lunch then in the evenings we turn it round to either a bar or we have live music where recently we’ve had the likes of the Lightning Seeds, The Zutons and Liam Fray from the Courteeners. It’s essentially a hub for entertainment.”

The Wigan venue will operate slightly differently to the Stockport one as it won’t be open during the daytime. Benji said the plan was to always open a second venue in Simon’s hometown so when Indiependence became available they jumped at the chance.

He added: “The plan was to always do a second one because Simon is from Wigan and the next bar was always going to be there. Indiependence came up and we had a chat about it, went and had a look at it and decided to go with it.

Bask Live will open in the former Indiependence venueBask Live will open in the former Indiependence venue
Bask Live will open in the former Indiependence venue

"We were always on the look out for somewhere in Wigan. Simon’s loves those kind of old-school clubs so it was perfect. It’ll be a slightly different concept, it won’t be open through the day but it will be open for live music, comedy all of the things we do here.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Upstairs will have its own identity called Red which a well-known house DJ and producer John Fitz is coming onboard with to bring in some heavyweight names and dance events. There’ll be some stuff we run over two floors and there will also be stuff where upstairs will be ran differently to downstairs.

"It’s worked really well in Stockport and connected with the people. It feels the Wigan project will have the same feel. Hopefully it will bring something that is quite new and fresh for the area.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice