AN ‘ICONIC’ Kendal wine bar has got a new lease of life thanks to a family that are hoping to offer a ‘community’ spot.

Tina and Colin Dulson, along with Tina’s brother Mark Berrie and sister-in-law Pete (Perdita) Berrie are running Burgundy's.

The bar, located on Lowther Street, had previously been run by Mike Pennington.

“Colin and I were looking for a property for our pension fund,” said Tina, who has lived in Kendal for 20 years. “We have done several projects in the past, including The New Moon restaurant.

“My brother and Pete have bar experience and they were looking for a change.”

Tina said that they saw an ‘opportunity’ for Burgundy’s to be a good community venue for Kendal.

“I think it was a combination of things,” she said. “Firstly Burgundy’s is iconic to Kendal. It was the first wine bar in 1984; people have lots of positive memories and associations to it.

“And we wanted to create a warm, inviting comfortable environment where you can come and drink good wine and spirits and socialise. We want it to be a community here.”

Tina explained that they had plans to put on live music at the bar, host networking events and to use a projector they have invested in to show films.

At the moment the bar is offering pies, platters and cakes but Tina explained that there were plans to offer a fuller menu once its kitchen was open.

“We want to build up the lunchtime trade,” she said. “We want to be a wine bar by night and a cafe bar by day.”

The family will also be looking to open up ‘pop-up’ kitchens, whereby local chefs and businesses use the premises to host one-off nights.

Although the decor has been changed in the venue, the main change has been the bar which has had its covering taken off it in order to open up the space.

“We thought a lot about the name,” Tina said. “But Burgundy’s is iconic and it would be a real shame to lose that. The only structural change was the roof of the bar, the footprint is exactly the same. The feedback that we’re getting is exactly what we wanted.”