'It looks phenomenal' - Sunderland's new-look Cooper Rose reopens for the first time in seven months

The Cooper Rose on Albion Place in Sunderland city centre finally reopened to members of the public at 8am on Sunday, January 23.

The popular Wetherspoons venue has undergone a £2.2million refit and saw the creation of a brand new roof terrace, which will seat more than 50 people when it opens in the next couple of months.

Inside, the biggest change is the levelling of the dance floor to make it more adaptable, along with extending the bar, adding in a sky light to make the pub feel brighter and changes to the decor, making it more modern.

Liam O’Brien, was the shift manager at the Cooper Rose when it opened on Sunday morning. He shared his joy at being back open to customers for the first time since the venue closed.

The 31-year-old told the Echo: “It has been a long seven months, we’ve been in different pubs so it is nice to be back in our own pub to see what it has been transformed into.

"It looks phenomenal, it has been in the city centre for a long time now and it has been brought up to date with a lot of modern decor.

"We’ve got the mirrors, the lighting system and in a few months time we’ll potentially have the roof terrace open, it’s phenomenal to be back on site and see all the work that has been done to it.

"It is great that we can now offer this brand new venue to customers as we go through this new year and I think people are going to love how the dance floor is now because of the lighting and the mirrors – I think people are going to love the first Lloyds night next weekend.”

Chip shop owner David Smith, 69, visited the pub for breakfast with his partner Rita Newby, 64, and they were both happy to see the new-look Cooper Rose.

“It looks magnificent, we were regular customers before it closed so we are really impressed with the changes and I think that we’ll be fans of the terrace upstairs when it opens,” David said.

Rita added: “I feel the same really, it is just looking lovely and it looks much bigger now that the dance floor has been improved.”

Vic Cope from Pallion was enjoying his first drink back inside the Cooper Rose since July.

For him, it was the social aspect of the pub that he missed most.

The 70-year-old said: “It is definitely looking brighter than it ever was, we used to congregate and there would often be 14 of us around the tables.

"This was our local, we’d rather go here than go anywhere else because we’ve had some good times in here and there are good people – especially the staff.

"It is nice to see them back and we all go to know each other, you can guarantee that any time of the day or night, you could come in and there would be someone we know.”

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