NORTHAMPTON — Years ago, musician and at-large City Councilor Garrick Perry would stare out the window of his old job at the now-closed Spaghetti Freddy’s at 125 Pleasant St. at the Bishop’s Lounge balcony across the street.
Now he and two partners are bringing the space back to life.
More than two years after Bishop’s Lounge closed its doors at 41 Strong Ave. for the last time, Perry is teaming up with his wife, Stephanie Agnew, and friend Franc Kromholz to help bring live music, nightlife and community back to Northampton.
The trio, operating as Three Publicans LLC, leased the 1,350-square-foot space in June. They plan to transform it into a bar, live music venue and arts and culture gathering space.
“The city is in need of more spaces to build community,” Perry said. “Once upon a time, in my youth, you could go and see music every night of the week, every genre you wanted. You could walk down the street and stumble into a metal show, and then go see a hip-hop show, go to the Iron Horse and see some blues, rinse and repeat.”
The space includes a balcony overlooking Strong Avenue and Union Station, a main room with a bar serving craft cocktails and mocktails, and a lounge area with a claw machine stocked with band merchandise and gift cards. Perry said he hopes it becomes a place where people can spend time and enjoy local music and gatherings.
Named after the term “publican,” meaning barkeeper, the new music venue aims to offer locals a place to form bands, explore live music across various genres, and socialize after work or on a night out.
Working toward an end-of-October opening, the three publicans are in a mad dash to fully renovate and prepare the space. Both Perry and Kromholz were once managers at Bishop’s Lounge, and Kromholz also worked as a bartender at the Iron Horse.
“We’re very familiar with the space. It was kind of an easy choice for us … I worked for the Bishop’s when they moved it over here and ran it for about five years,” Kromholz said. “It just seemed like the time in town for music to happen. It’s definitely been a minute since there’s been a variety of music in this town.”
Once the venue is up and running, Perry hopes to offer four draft cocktails, each named after a local business in the city. They will also host art-based community events to bring local organizations together.
“One of the things we want to do is incorporate that into the space of having crafts be part of the experience, whether it is craft cocktails, but also art,” Perry said. “We don’t want to do a traditional paint and sip.”
Agnew, whom Perry and Kromholz described as the “brain” keeping the Three Publicans operation “on track,” said that although she is a therapist by profession, she loves the arts, enjoys a night out and has the organizational talent to make her “creative” business partners’ ideas work.
“It’s exciting that the Iron Horse is here, but the sort of shows and the clientele that they cater to seems limited,” she said. “This space was empty and, although I have no background in venue operations, I really like to go out; I like to dance, I listen to music. This space holds a very special part of me, and so it just seemed like a great opportunity to bring it back to life.”
A performer for the bulk of his adult life, Perry is currently the lead vocalist for the Alchemystics, a hip-hop and reggae band that performs throughout the Valley and East Coast.
Putting on his “city councilor hat,” Perry said that Three Publicans is a product of both his passion for music and his love for Northampton. With revenue returning after the pandemic and a redesign of the city’s downtown Main Street on the horizon, he hopes the business could play a part in the city’s revitalization.
“As we think about redesigning our Main Street and how we move forward, you know, it’s important to know that there are spaces to come gather and be together,” Perry said. “We have gone back to pre-pandemic numbers in terms of bar and meal revenues, and hotels, except we’re not open as late as we used to be. For me, that seems like a great opportunity to not only generate revenue but also keep people coming to the area.”
The venue will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., though Perry said he may expand the hours in the future.
