New management team at Southsea's Hive Cocktail Bar make changes as they look to create a warm welcoming lounge

Hive Cocktail Bar in Osborne Road has been open in its current guise for over a year now but owner Kay Adu has entrusted a change of philosophy to manager, Ricardo Zottich, and new bar manager, Bonbon Rodrigues. The two are looking to instil a change of approach with a more relaxed atmosphere and food now being served.

Ricardo has been a manager at the bar since it opened. He said: “The idea is to make this a cosy place for people to come to. To make that happen we are going to turn this from a cocktail bar to a lounge. We want it to be a slightly quieter place where people can come down and enjoy cocktails and spend time with their family and friends.”

The new approach will include the start of a food service with a sharer charcuterie and cheese board available initially. This will include olives, cured meats, as well a bruschetta to give people the option of quality light bites to eat while they are in the restaurant.

There are plans for more in the future though. Ricardo said: “In the future I would like to bring in some Brazilian food, it will be like a finger food but it is nice cuts of meat from the barbecue.”

Bonbon is the new arrival of bar manager but he has plenty of experience working in numerous bars across the city. The bar was already known for its cocktails but Bonbon is looking to enhance it further, focussing on quality, well-established flavours, ingredients and techniques.

He said: “I think my most important role is to make sure that all of the drinks follow through with the customer. I believe that nothing needs to be fancy or out of this world. Everything needs to follow a certain tradition or law and we follow the recipes at the bar that have been established for two decades or more, centuries even.

“I’m hoping to bring that here and keep our customers happy. We will be serving beautiful Old Fashioned and some Martinis, as old-fashioned as we can go. There will also be a good selection of wines and we have good quality beer on tap.”

The new direction has met the approval of regular customers who have also been pleased with the announcement of an additional karaoke night. Originally it was every Wednesday but it has proven so popular it will now be every Wednesday and Thursday.

Singer Jules Murphy, who performs under the name JuJu, has ben running the karaoke night from the start. She said: “We started the karaoke night about a year ago when the bar opened and it’s grown and we offer more nights now.

“Generally the night starts with me singing and people can be a bit shy so they will want one or two drinks before they will come up and sing. Once they start singing that’s it. The amount of people who start off by saying they don’t want to sing, but then the minute they do, they can’t keep away, they want to do another one and another one.

“Its a really lovely atmosphere and really inclusive. The bar has such a warm feeling to it, the minute you walk in you feel comfortable.”

Hive bar is also currently taking booking for events such as Christmas work nights out and birthdays. For further details visit their Facebook page.