Dating back to the 1920s, the unique building was created as a memorial to a fallen soldier in the First World War, complete with turrets and ramparts. Despite being a landmark in the town, it stood empty for five years until James Smith, Paul Clarke and David Ward moved in to transform it into Borjia.
The bar has a capacity of about 140 but this is set to increase to 200 after some extra building works. Open from midday, it operates until 3am on the weekends, and with a strict over-25s policy, it is attracting an upmarket crowd.
Northampton-based installation company Fabtronic has designed and supplied a NEXO house PA for Borjia, using 4x PS10-R2s and 2x RS15 subs, powered by NXAMPS4x4. Project manager Chris Hobbins points out that, “because Borjia is located in a residential neighbourhood, they spent quite heavily on installing a high-quality system that would provide tight dispersion and keep as much of the sound as possible inside the building. Despite appearances, it’s not a reverberant environment but, given ceiling height of about 7 metres, we mounted the speakers as low on the walls as possible to be sure. The RS15 subs are particularly successful, you can literally swim in the bass!”
The aesthetic look-feel was led by James Smith who is an interior designer with input from Paul Clarke, an international DJ, and David Ward, a solicitor who owns the building. “We have kept it very slick and classical with a few eccentric twists,” James explains. At a cost of £250,000, they have been meticulous in their attention to detail, with all the furniture custom-made or sourced from antique shops. This includes sofas covered in rich black cow hides, large brass chandeliers, bevelled mirrors and gold wallpaper. The main colour scheme is black and gold but there is a combination of styles and textures, such as the toilets which are clad in crocodile-effect leather!
