Nottinghamshire bar manager keeping regulars entertained while on lockdown

Ian Butler was devastated when he had to close his beloved Hop In micro bar last month.

The bar on Wilson Street in Pinxton only opened a year ago, but has been going from strength to strength before the coronavirus pandemic forced the government to order all bars to close.

Whilst steam cleaning the bar after they had closed one final time, the 34-year-old bar manager from Kirkby had an idea to keep his regulars entertained until they could reopen once more – by performing music videos and uploading them to the Hop In facebook page.

His first video saw him performing Queen’s ‘I Want to Break Free’ while steam cleaning, which has now been viewed more than 10,000 times.

Ian was initially shocked that his video went viral, but vowed to perform more:

“I was upset to find out about the lockdown as this is my livelihood, but we also needed to take the situation seriously and close the bar.

“I knew that people would be down about the situation so I decided to make the videos.

“People asked for more as it cheered them up, so now I need to keep thinking of fresh ideas.”

Ian has since recorded his take on Eric Prydz’ hit music video ‘Call on Me’ and his version of Britney Spears’ ‘...Baby One More Time’ amongst others.

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