'We wanted to go back to our vision' - no entry rule for under 21s at bar

The Moloko, on Lion Street, has made changes to its entry rules after seeing an increase in younger people on Friday and Saturdays - especially since popular night club Unit 17 closed last month.

The bar set out the decision on May 4 that it wanted to go back to its vision of being a "vibrant bar and restaurant for the slightly more mature market with a great friendly vibe."

Zoe Cutting, owner of The Moloko, said: "This was a brave decision to make.

"We were initially concerned about how the decision would be received but the messages of support and praise for making this decision has been quite overwhelming from the over 21s.

"We would also like to thank the under 21s for taking the news so well."

The Moloko, on Lion Street in Ipswich (Image: Danielle Lett)

Zoe went on to say: "We made this decision because we felt that over the last few weeks the demographic has changed quite drastically to a much younger one and with that came a few issues for the management team.

"It was never about how much money we might lose by putting this policy in place.

"It was about listening to what our guests were saying and asking ourselves whether this new path that we seemed to be being led down with the influx of younger guests was one that we wanted or one that would benefit our business in the long run."

The decision was made on May 4, with their first weekend of the new rule proving to be successful.

Zoe Cutting, owner of The Moloko cocktail bar and tapas restaurant on Lion Street in Ipswich. Picture: Danielle Booden (Image: Archant 2021)

The weekend was the first with the new policy which the team said went successfully.

The owner said: "Our team were overwhelmed on Saturday evening with the amount of positive comments from guests telling us how they welcomed the changes we have made.

"We had one or two comments on our social media post suggesting that this was a bad business decision.

"We were confident that they were wrong and we are now even more confident that this was, infact, an extremely savvy business decision and that The Moloko will continue to go from strength to strength and be the 'go to' place in Ipswich. "