The former site of Buster’s Billiards & Backroom, a popular Manchester Street concert venue that closed in December, is being reborn as Manchester Music Hall.
Owners Adam Hatton, Mitch Potter and Adam Short say they plan to renovate the space to allow for a variety of private and corporate events, in addition to hosting musical acts. LexEffect LLC, a Lexington-based events and management group that also produces the MoonTower Music Festival, has signed on as a partner to operate booking and promotions.
“Lexington is on the verge of being the next Portland, Athens or Austin, and this music venue and event space will join others in Lexington to take our city to that next level,” LexEffect founder Kaelyn Query said in a news release. “We want to work with the community as well as local vendors to maximize this space to its best potential.”
The new venue is tentatively set to open Sept. 30.
Buster’s Billiards & Backroom opened on Manchester Street in the converted Old Tarr Distillery in August 2009. It originally opened on Main Street in the early 1990s, but the block on which it was located was demolished in 2008 to make way for the CentrePointe development.
The venue closed unexpectedly late in 2014.
“Finances have been tight and tricky since I opened five years ago, and it finally all caught up,” Buster’s owner Clark Case said at the time.