Dead Eyes on Bridge Street to be taken to next level

Graeme Keast, owner of Dead Eyes in the town centre, was already impressed with how the venue which specialises in cocktails and street food was run when he took it over in March, is now taking it to the next level and ticking every box as he goes.

He said: “Me and the previous owner clicked and had a pretty instant connection – I bought a bar and got a friend as well.

“I thought ‘I really like this’. It had a great reputation for great cocktails and good food and I want to enhance it even further with my background.

“It terms of the menu we were just enhancing what was already there. We already did great burgers and ribs, it was enhanced with a skinny menu, our best-selling salt and pepper chicken noodle box and better vegan options to tick a box for everyone.

“We wanted to better it by doing things that nobody else was really doing or singing about.

“I don’t know of anywhere that is doing these things.”

After Graeme built his own bar in lockdown at his house before taking on his own, Dead Eyes could only operate as a delivery business at the start.

“The first few months really was about making it a success as a food business. All we had until May was deliveries. When we opened as a bar, the bar was a bonus. We’ve been really successful with the food.

Graeme Keast (left) and Alex Tennant pictured at the bar in the gastropub

Some of the seating in Dead Eyes

“I wanted a menu that could fit for everybody – we continued with the previous ethos of being fresh.

“And you will not find better ribs anywhere.”

When the bar could reopen, Graeme, who lives off Chester Road, and his general manager Alex Tennant had months to think about what they wanted to do with it.

“Everyone always asks the question: what made you want to buy a bar? My response is always: who doesn’t want to own a bar?

“We wanted to continue the phenomenal work that was done on that bar, we couldn’t really improve it to be fair because the cocktails were first-class.

“We wanted to add extra features. We now operate two floors on the weekend with live music where the restaurant area. We have fantastic live music on a Saturday night.

“What I want really is the feel what you get when you go to an Irish bar, it’s not an Irish bar and we don’t pretend to be, but that feel-good atmosphere you can when you go where you can go on your own, meet friends and have a good night and that is what we are looking for.

“Great entertainment, great cocktails and great food – we tick every box in what we do for that."

Dead Eyes' cocktails on offer

Alex Tennant in action cocktail-making in Dead Eyes

With the help of his team, which Graeme – who is the franchise of Subway on Bridge Street – couldn’t be more proud of, he often just takes a step back and smiles.

“I am very proud of this project,” said the 35-year-old.

“I’ve always enjoyed hosting people but to be able to do it on a much bigger scale – there is no better feeling.

“Me and Alex look back at 1am and you can see the bar is absolutely packed, we’re playing great music, everyone’s singing along and having a great time, we just look at each other and go’ this is really good’.

“After the year that everybody has had, to see we’ve created so much joy for people is something that we are really proud and something we want to continue enhancing and get better and better."

Graeme – who has lived in Warrington for 15 years – spent £20,000 improving their kitchen for his staff to benefit what he calls their ‘engine’.

“We’re like a family. It’s something we really enjoy doing and we’re very proud of. The kitchen team are outstanding, including Mik Mozul our new head chef.

“You’ve got all these great ideas coming from the bar staff, the manager, the chefs and it’s great to see how passionate they are. It’s hard to get staff like that that really care.”

And once Graeme has finished taking Dead Eyes to the top of its game, he is keen to open more bars in time.

It sounds like they aren’t far off all boxes being ticked, either.

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A view from the bar of the bottom floor