How would one go about opening up a wine bar?

[BlueBunny23]

Me and my partner were looking at starting up a business by opening up a wine bar. We have found a place to rent…. We have enquired about it. What do we do next? Do we find out about if we can sell alcohol from the premises? Do we rent the place then apply to sell alcohol ?

In a what is essentially a recession? I'm not entirely sure that would be counted as an investment?

Have you stood outside in the evening and counted how many people walk past the premises?

Yes it’s an area full of students from the university we do think it would do well

You'll need a premises licence and one of you will need a personal licence.

Here is more info.

If you have enough money to open a wine bar in a recession where other wine bars can't actually afford to trade due to the increasing cost of energy, then you can probably afford a business consultant that can walk you through this.

Not sure students would be the typical user of wine bar - and those who want a wine bar will probably not want to be in a student environment.

What type of business was previously being run from the premises? Was it a café for example?

Withdraw £100,000 from the bank in £50 notes. Have a bonfire with them, it's the same thing.

Surely this is a joke? One, students don't want wine bars. Two, if you don't know your next steps then you clearly aren't ready to be taking them.

(P.S. as a wine bar/restaurant owner I wouldn't recommend it at present!)

You want to open a non essential business you know nothing about in a recession. This can’t be real.

I would suggest you talk to the landlord or agent, and request a lease subject to getting the premises licence.
I would want a rent-free period while I got set up (3-6 months if you can but even a month helps). I’d want a break clause after a year and another at three years so I could get out of it easily if it didn’t work.
There are auctions of good-quality catering equipment from closing down premises that could save lots of money on the set-up.
And then I would try to operate with minimal staff and do everything yourselves as that’s what costs the most money!

You want to open a non essential business you know nothing about in a recession. This can’t be real.

Sadly I think it may be.

Scary, isn’t it. They also apparently have a new baby.

This shouldn't be in Investments