Izzy Marston , formerly a leading light in Chester’s social media scene as operator of We Love Good Times has returned to her spiritual home at Oddfellows, the venue she helped found back in 2006.

Oddfellows was originally built as a town house in 1676 for Lady Mary Calverley. Her home was later rebuilt to exclude the rows which originally led all the way down Bridge Street. Outside in the venue’s Secret Garden Izzy tells me : “She was a hedonist and she was having parties of a particular nature here, maybe she wanted privacy!” . In 2006 Izzy was part of the founding team that set up Oddfellows, after it had been used for various purposes over the years.

“It’s a beautiful Georgian building with a very fragmented and colourful history. At some point it was The Oddfellows society- they were a bunch of misfits who weren’t welcome anywhere else. They formed their own organisation.” The history of the building helped to drive the concept behind the venue. ” When we got the keys in 2006 it took us 2 years to get the original concept in, with an original, bold and eccentric vision. The concept was a darker version of Alice in Wonderland, a grown up playful place. The first thing about this building is ,it’s beautiful , so no matter how dark and playful it might be , it is housed and homed in a very beautiful place and that makes for a very interesting dynamic.“

Of her new role as General Manager she says: ” I adore my team and my customers and hopefully have great relations with partners and future partners. This is not a transactional place anymore, this building speaks to me and it has a heart. It needs to be loved and nurtured and that’s what I’ve come back to do. We have cleaned it up, all of the features are original, the padded cell went in 16 years ago. It wasn’t a refurb , it was breathing some life and love into a place that had been forgotten. We have updated it a bit, but I’ve tried to work with all the original fixtures. Nothing was broken about this, but it had dropped off the radar. A lot of people don’t know this is here.”

Izzy has revived the events programme. “Music is a big thing for all of us. We are working with local DJs, Paul Geddes does Sundowner on a Friday, with a chilled out Ibiza vibe. We are doing outside barbecues, creating that lovely after work chill out vibe. Saturdays is the local legend John Locke, who has come back to the city after all these years.”

Special experiences for Oddfellow’s guests are also on the cards. The venue has a block of 14 newer bedrooms built a decade ago, 4 original attic rooms and also 5 apartments on Duke Street. “The kind of thing we do here now needs to be very different. “ A Halloween room package will offer a dark twisted event featuring a zombie Mad Hatter serving afternoon tea. Tied in with the forthcoming Gladiator exhibition in September, Oddfellows will be hosting a Roman feast. “It will be based on the Roman cookbook and parts of the actual exhibition will come here!”

Izzy acknowledges that Chester has changed dramatically. “Mostly for the better.. When we opened this, there was Chez Jules, Watergates, Bar Lounge, a few of us. Now we have a plethora of incredible bars and restaurants , I’d love for us to be known as a foodie city, a hospitality city. Does the outside world know that , is that how Chester is thought of ? Probably not, but I think it should be part of our identity. “ She says that We Love Good Times has been side lined due to the city’s internal politics and a strong belief that the city does not function as a cohesive whole, but instead favours an Establishment. However she remains positive that if Chester can communicate and work together it will eventually win as a city.

Izzy promises exciting experience led attractions for the future, with a membership scheme and a “wonderfully weird” wine tasting teased. “We are going to be doing events for people that want something different and we will be embedding into the local community over the weeks and months ahead.”

To learn more visit :

https://www.oddfellowschester.com/