The Cellar, located where the West End Wine Bar formerly stored its wine, has been transformed into a basement bar serving eight beers on tap, wine and a small menu. It also will feature a jukebox and pool tables.
The West End Wine Bar, at 450 W. Franklin St., now consists of three floors: the ground level, rooftop and cellar.
Lane Wurster, a partner at the Splinter Group, which handles marketing for West End Wine Bar, said owner Jared Resnick had a couple of reasons for creating The Cellar. "People currently at the wine bar wanted to be able to smoke, and rather than having people go outside to do so, he created a space where they could," Wurster said.
He said the West End Wine Bar hosts a lot of private parties, such as reunions. "(The Cellar is) a place where you can have private parties without having to close down the entire establishment," he said. "They can have the whole place to themselves. It's ideally suited for something like that."
Wurster said The Cellar is the same size as the wine bar and will hold the same capacity, about 70 to 100 people. It is not a private club, so no liquor will be served, he said.
West End Wine Bar has proved successful with graduate students and undergraduates "who want to explore something more interesting than bars on the main strip."
"I think the idea of it being more of an adventure straying a bit from campus to try some wine had some allure already," Wurster said.
He said The Cellar has features that should attract more students. "When people think wine bar, they think it's more sophisticated. The Cellar has pool tables, a jukebox -- it's more of a bar than a wine place, kind of a juke joint, a little more down-and-dirty."
Some students familiar with the Chapel Hill bar scene said they are interested in the amenities of The Cellar. "Personally I like it to be less crowded with quite a bit of room, and pool is nice," said first-year graduate student Mike Pritchard.
