2023, the ECHO spoke to many club and bar owners<\/a> worried for their future.<\/p>\nAntony has witnessed this period firsthand. He said: \u201cI\u2019ve been DJ\u2019ing myself for about 17 years in the city. Having something of my own has always been the end goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard to think what to come up with because I think they\u2019ve tried a few different things before in that space but it\u2019s never worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big, massive risk. Working in the industry myself, I’ve seen so many clubs, venues, even restaurants just disappearing. It is devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Rubell's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS376035374.jpg\")
Rubell’s on Seel Street<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Antony believes their concept stands out among the competition. It is named after Steve Rubell, who owned legendary New York nightclub Studio 54 in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Antony said: \u201cIt was one of the first disco clubs. I think we’ve hit the nail on the head with where we want to go. It’s something that’s needed in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s different, it’s quirky. It’s not like some of the nightclubs where you’ve got a super-duper set-up. It\u2019s underground, similar to Studio 54, with a disco feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenges for the bar continued right up to the eve of its opening night on July 12. Antony said: \u201cWe’ve definitely had a bit of a nightmare.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout four days before we were opening we had a big, massive flood from the venue above us. It took us back to square one. Everything was wrecked, the toilets caved in and everything. Then the air-con broke the night before.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we got it back and ready for the opening night. Thankfully we’ve got an amazing team behind us. Everybody wants to work for the same goal. We want to bring something exciting to Liverpool.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Antony](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS376035371.jpg\")
Antony Armstrong with promoters Nathan Fowell and Callum Llewellyn<\/p>\n
Antony feels the first few weeks have been a success, with hundreds of people coming through the door. He said: \u201cThe opening night was amazing. The DJs have been brilliant. We\u2019ve had so much good feedback. I think the capacity is about 350 and we’re pulling in some good numbers at the minute. Last weekend was our first full weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut obviously with the current climate, plus a lot of people are away on holiday, you\u2019ve got to keep it fresh and keep different DJs coming through the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cNathan and Callum run their own events called For The Record and they\u2019ve pulled in their crowd. They’ve taken my vision a lot further. People are coming in for that style of music – disco, house, funk and soul. I think you can’t really go wrong with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s the perfect location because you’ve got a lot of other venues along this street and they\u2019re absolutely thriving as well. We offer something different, so it’s all working out perfectly up to now, fingers crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antony felt that being at Rubell\u2019s on opening night marked a special milestone for him. He said: \u201cIt was amazing. I’ve always been known as a DJ in the city, but I’ve obviously had to take a step back and focus on the role of being a club owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see new talent come in. It\u2019s like a breath of fresh air, seeing these young lads come in and bringing their own vibe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really enjoying it. The stresses, the highs and the lows, it\u2019s all part of the journey. Hopefully, we’ll be part of clubbing history in the city one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just appreciate everyone coming down and showing their support in the current climate. Clubbing isn\u2019t dead yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubell\u2019s is open every Friday and Saturday from 10pm to 5pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people running the venue want to bring ‘something exciting’ to Liverpool’s nightlife sceneAntony Armstrong, owner of Rubell’s,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,8915,393,4884,179,2349,11159,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-287056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-clubs","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-city-centre","14":"tag-speke","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114906456882365329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Antony](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS376035377.jpg\")
Antony Armstrong, owner of Rubell’s, with promoters Nathan Fowell (left) and Callum Llewellyn<\/p>\n