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Retro bar celebrates flagship anniversary

The owners of one of Newcastle’s best loved hotspots, The Quilted Camel, are celebrating 20 years of trading along with some key staff who have been with them since the start.

Three original members of staff including one of The Quilted Camel’s first bar staff - operations director Sarah Cook, previous cleaner now property manager Angus Green and regular DJ Stevie Gee, have been with Vaulkhard Group since it first built the retro quayside bar under director Ollie Vaulkhard’s first leisure venture Quilted Camel Ltd, on December 5, 1995.

Operations director Sarah Cook said: “I hold very fond memories of The Quilted Camel and have worked with Ollie since it opened so I feel very fortunate to have been given so many wonderful opportunities within the business over the years.

“Vaulkhard Group has been like a family to me and I am delighted to be celebrating such a monumental anniversary.”

Starting out with just 22 staff, Ollie Vaulkhard is humbled that many of his staff still work beside him, revealing a 20% staff retention over the 20 years.

He said: “For me, this celebration is very personal. All of our staff play a fundamental part in developing the business and it is very rewarding to be able to say we work with many of the same team that have been with us since the start.”

In 1998, Quilted Camel Ltd went on to open popular student venue The Mushroom in the Bigg Market before Ollie identified more opportunities to open venues across the city, forming Fluid Group in 2000.

After merging with brother Harry’s businesses, Breeze Ventures and Blake’s Retail Ltd, along with commercial property business 42 Street in April 2015, Vaulkhard Group is set to refurbish The Quilted Camel next year as part of its £4million development plans across some of its city centre bars.

Vowing to keep its timeless décor and style to the listed building, he added: “Not only does the Quilted Camel mean a lot to us, but it is well loved among our customers so we are keen to honour its style throughout the refurbishment.

“At the time, we weren’t just building a brand new bar, we were doing it within a Grade II star listed building, which was unheard of in those days so there was a lot of buzz and excitement around the opening.

“When we first opened, the drinking culture was very different to what it is now with less availability of choice of venue or their offerings so originally we aimed to provide customers with something a bit more radical and invested as much as we could into refurbishing the venue, which had previously stood stagnant for seven years.

“We were the first leisure group to install a ground-breaking lighting system as part of the interior, and I can remember customers saying they thought it was unbelievable as the design was very state of the art for that time.

“Because I had invested so much into it and paying people I realized I didn’t have enough money to put in the float for opening night so I had to sell my Fiat Tipo. Thankfully, I was able to buy it back the next day.”

To celebrate The Quilted Camel’s 20th anniversary, the original menu from the day the venue opened will be offered to customers throughout December as a nostalgic way to mark the occasion.

Vaulkhard Group now owns 14 bars, coffee shops and restaurants including Barluga (Newcastle and Morpeth), Perdu, Bealim House, The Mushroom, The Quilted Camel, All Seeing Eye, Blackie Boy, Pacific House, Blake’s coffee shop and Central Bean (Newcastle and Morpeth) and employs over 100 staff.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Crulley .