Update on plans to reopen Brunel Rooms nightclub in Swindon

In 2021 it was announced that the Brunel Rooms - for decades a staple of the town's nightlife in Havelock Square - was to be given a new lease of life as a 'superclub'. 

The building had been purchased by London-based entrepreneur Chris Godwin, who planned to make it the second venue in his budding nightclub empire called Hive, having opened one in Newbury earlier that year. 

GALLERY: Amazing photos of clubbers at the Brunel Rooms in the 90s and 00s

But years later the building still remains closed and unused and there appears to have been no movement on Hive Swindon taking shape. 

The Advertiser approached Chris Godwin to ask where things were at with the reopening of the Brunel Rooms, and he revealed that his vision for the building was dead in the water. 

"I'm no longer involved, I sold it off," he said, adding "I'm unsure what is happening with it all now."

He added that he has left the nightclub industry for good and has now started a plumbing company carrying out commercial fit-outs and domestic jobs too. 

In November 2021 a Facebook page for Hive Swindon was created. But that Facebook page now redirects to a nightclub called Millenium Newbury.

All other online presence for the Hive nightclub chain has also disappeared from social media, and its website is no longer live. 

Speaking to the Adver in 2021, Mr Godwin said talks to take over the Brunel Rooms had been taking place for several months. 

He also shared plans for exactly what he was going to do with the venue, which changed hands in 2007 and reopened as Liquid and Envy before shutting once more.

“I was looking at it about two years ago, just before Covid, and I was shocked to see the state it was in. It’s been left a shell, there’s nothing in it, no bars, no toilets," he said.

“I’m going to refit it completely with new toilets, new bars, new lighting, new dance floor, new sound system, new laser systems, special effects and pyrotechnics.”

Chris said the old Liquid room would have been divided into two separate club rooms to form a superclub with a £500,000 investment, creating roughly around 20 to 30 jobs for the town in the process. 

“The area that would’ve been Envy is going to be blocked off for now, as it’s far beyond repair at the moment,” he added. 

Attempts have been made to determine who the new owners of the Brunel Rooms are and what their plans might be with the building.