Lucky Voice, the pioneering social entertainment brand, has announced plans to open in London’s Waterloo, continuing its programme of growth and investment with a £1.6M, 3,200 square foot unit in The Sidings, a unique experienced-led destination being created by regeneration and placemaking specialist LCR.
Lucky Voice Waterloo will be the brand’s fifth London venue, joining popular sites in Soho, Islington, Holborn and Liverpool Street, with additional bars in Brighton and Dubai. Due to open in Spring 2024, the venue will be its first London site to open south of the river, and aims to bring an immersive late-night experience to the heart of the South Bank in Waterloo station with a 2:30am license.
Charlie Elek, Managing Director at Lucky Voice, comments: “We’re thrilled to announce our fifth London venue in LCR’s The Sidings development. Opening in high profile locations near major transport hubs is a key part of our growth strategy, and this destination location on the South Bank, The Sidings, ticks all the right boxes for us.”
Lucky Voice joins fine-dining concept Rosarium, the two-storey UK-flagship location of BrewDog, Nandos, and a host of boutique retail destinations, including Kiehls and Neuhaus, at The Sidings. It has been designed to reflect the area’s creative spirit and the already iconic surrounding locations such as Leake Street Arches, Royal Festival Hall and the National Theatre.
Peter Hawthorne, LCR CEO, said: “We’re curating a vibrant mix of international household names and innovative boutique brands, and Lucky Voice fits the bill perfectly. The South Bank is evolving rapidly and we know that residents and visitors alike are looking for a unique experience that blends seamlessly with the wider neighbourhood. It’s brilliant to have Lucky Voice join and help make The Sidings another asset for Waterloo.”
Lucky Voice is working with industry-leading designers and contractors to overlay the unit with high-spec, modern features to guarantee great guest experiences – with eight karaoke booths, a late-night bar with DJ, VIP karaoke pod, and large 20-person pod for larger corporate groups. The venue’s dramatic interior scheme will riff on the idea of railway nostalgia, taking inspiration from its location right underneath platforms 20-24 of the capital’s busiest and largest train station, London Waterloo.
Lucky Voice’s loyal customer base can expect a dynamic look-and-feel for the Waterloo venue. Following the £300K refurbishment of its Soho site in 2022, and £1.2M Liverpool Street opening earlier this year, the brand has become known for its compelling design features. Its dimly-lit bar spaces are brought to life with vibrant LED fixtures, retro-inspired karaoke booth seating and Instagrammable installations.
At the new Waterloo site, iconography of twentieth century rail travel will be woven throughout to transport people to their favourite night out. On approach, customers will be greeted by a split-flap display – a design reminiscent of departure boards the world round – broadcasting not times and destinations, but karaoke lyrics and song titles, with Abba’s 1974 classic – Waterloo – being a mainstay.
The opening will create at least 17 fantastic hospitality jobs, with great career progression opportunities. One of Lucky Voice’s core company values is to ‘have fun, be fun’, and employees are offered the same excitement that their karaoke-loving customers enjoy when they pick up one of the mics.
Elek continues, “Our mission is to combine karaoke with great service, technology and food and drink, and Waterloo promises to be our most exciting venue yet in terms of guest experience. As well as offering a high-quality, varied range of delicious sharing dishes, including pizzas, tacos, and small plates, we’ll also continue to innovate when it comes to technology. We recently introduced ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ – an interactive gaming function which gives guests the option to allow our new software to take charge of their experiences, randomly selecting the songs and the singers, and pairing people up for duets to add an additional layer of engagement.”
Lucky Voice has continued to go from strength to strength ever since it outperformed all expectations when reopening post-Covid. Sales data from its new Liverpool Street venue revealed that it was Lucky Voice’s best launch ever, with record first month revenue – 12% up on the previous record held by the Holborn site in 2019.
