A café and bar is raising money to open an “incredible” new nightlife space inside an old bank vault.
The Market House opened at the former NatWest in Tonbridge High Street last August.
Mark Richards and Kat Simpson, who had always dreamt of owning a café together, bought the site in October 2023 after the bank shut seven months prior.
One year on, Mark says they have quickly become a lot of people’s “favourite café in the town”.
But while they have built up a “very loyal fan base”, they have been struggling with the nightlife aspect of the business.
He explained: “I think we confused people as to what The Market House was supposed to be in the evening.
“We started to launch our evening food and quickly realised that we’d got that wrong, as the space didn’t really work for a fine dining experience.
“At Christmas time, we decided to try a bit of tapas in the evening instead. But that also didn’t really take off.
“If we’d set up to be a daytime café only and built the business plan around that, we’d have been fine because that side of it is doing very well.
“But we need the evenings, and what we were doing just wasn’t working.”
After seeing a drop in evening trade, they decided it was time to start thinking about converting the underground vault at the site, which had previously been used to store money at the former bank.
Mark explained: “It’s a huge, unused space that’s got incredible history.
“It still has the original vault doors and two of the original bank safes inside it. It’s crying out to be a space that we can use.”
When open, The Vault will be a “flexible space” which will be used for wellness activities, private hire, workshops, and meetings during the day.
In the evenings, it would showcase local artists, musicians, and comedians.
“There’s a whole load of things we can do with this great space,” Mark said.
“We have to get it open if this business is going to be sustainable because we can’t be a daytime-only business with the size of the site – it just kind of doesn’t work.”
Over the past year, The Market House has hosted a number of private events, so the new space will allow the site to remain open to the public during these.
They have set up a Crowdfunder with a goal of £30,000 to complete a fit-out of The Vault, which will include soundproofing and lighting costs.
Mark said: “We’ve put £700,000 of our own money into this project, and we have a mortgage on the property.
“Now, we need some validation from the community that this is what they want.
“We heard it a lot when we first opened, The Market House is just what the town needs, and I think that’s demonstrated by the café business.
“I think if Tonbridge wants a venue that can be multifunctional, for gigs, comedy, all that kind of stuff, and wants an alternative as a late bar, we’d love the community to be involved in making that happen”.
They have already installed electrics and some lighting, as well as some speakers.
On August 6, they applied for a late licence, which would allow the site to operate up until 3am.
However, they were unable to meet certain sound conditions, so they will need to soundproof the site – at a cost of £10,000 – by the next meeting on September 22.
Mark added: “Our main focus now is to work towards that date.
“We’ve got people who want to promote local bands, bands that want to practice, and DJs that want to play.
“As part of our commitment to the community, at least one day a week, it will be able to be used for free for not-for-profit groups.
“We are a hundred percent convinced that the combination of The Vault being open and having a licence will unlock our evening revenue.
“The community will know that if they turn up and they haven’t got a booking, they can still come in for a drink.
“If we get the licence granted on the day, then we will open as soon as possible after that.
“We’re not going to have it open every Friday and Saturday night, it will be a place where we run an event maybe every fortnight.
“It will be a new place to go in Kent. We believe Tonbridge deserves this next step for our nightlife, and we can’t wait to share this incredible new space”.
