Popular nightclub in Spalding having £500,000 upgrade before reopening under new name shortly

Spalding's only nightclub is taking on a brand new look ahead of springtime after a £500,000 transformation.

Formerly Loaded Nightclub, off Westlode Street, the new XO will feature a new entrance, carpets, seating, toilets, lighting and sound system when it opens on March 29.

In addition, owners Activ Leisure, of Spalding, will be providing a new upstairs bar to be called Imaginarium, to be opened at a later date, which Activ Leisure describes as "an exclusive area for more discerning adults", offering a range of ales, cocktails, gins and wines.

Matt Clark, director of Activ Leisure, said: "We closed Loaded a week into the new year and we are currently completing a long overdue refurbishment, budgeted to be a £500,000 scheme.

"We're refurbishing every room and the exciting thing for us is we're going to have a new ground floor bar opening that will be a separate entity from the first floor which will be called XO.

"Imaginarium, on the ground floor, will tend to be a lot more edgy and have a bar format which will include an exclusive area for more discerning adults, offering a huge range of gins, exclusive and rotating craft ales, Prosecco wine and an incredible cocktail menu.

"It's no secret that we once had the stickiest carpets in Lincolnshire but now we're bringing something more high standard to Spalding where the current offering of quality venues is quite lacking."

Active Leisure, also owners of Alley-Catz Bowling Lanes and Bounce Sports Bar in Spalding, bought the nightclub nearly 15 years ago and Mr Clark confirmed that the change of name from Loaded to XO was part of its first refurbishment in ten years.

Mr Clark said: "We're trying to stimulate the evening economy in Spalding by offering a refreshed feel, hoping that others will follow suit and invest in the area too.

"The choice for many, at the moment, is to travel out of the area to Stamford or even further to cosmopolitan cities.

"Our local residents shouldn’t have to do this and shortly they will no longer need to when the new XO opens.

"We have some ideas as to how we want to improve we want to improve Alley-Catz and Bounce Bar which we'll be turning our attention to once we've finished XO.

"But our priority at present is to complete this refurbishment of what is now called XO, the change of name having been an incredibly difficult choice to make.

"Yet it was a natural step to make, having invested so much in the change."