SURREY — Surrey’s resident party spot, Mirage Nightclub, closed its doors for good after 18 years of late-night drinking, entertainment and dancing in late June.
Since its grand closing on June 21, the club has been gutted and site owner and operator Wayne Ferguson wanted to repurpose the space for a more “modern, upscale pub.†He hopes to see the as-of-yet unnamed venue open up in late September in the building that Mirage once occupied.
Mirage Nightclub hosted DJs and dance parties, once even having a 22-year-old Lady Gaga perform in 2008 in support of her debut release, The Fame.
“We’re gutting it and completely renovating it into more of a pub-type environment. We’ll still maintain the late night hours, but we’ll be open all day for people to come and have lunch and dinner and watch sporting events and do all that sort of stuff,†said Ferguson, who ran the club with his sons.
Ferguson said that restrictive work hours and a poor utilization of the 10,000-square-foot building is what prompted him to make the change.
“The main reason is that it’s a very large building and a very large property to only be operating 18 hours a week,†he said. “I’ve wanted to do this for quite a while, to be able to put in a full kitchen and be able to open up the place seven days a week and all day long.â€
After gaining approval to construct a patio from the city, the new venture is full speed ahead and Ferguson hopes that the new site will attract a wider audience than it did as Mirage Nightclub.
“We’re definitely hoping to broaden our demographic a bit. We figured we can hopefully pull a demographic between 19 and 50 rather than just the 19 to 22. That’s why on weekends we’ll be bringing in live entertainment as well as a DJ,†he said.
Ferguson also said he aims to serve craft beer and upscale pub fare when the spot re-opens.
As of yet, the prospective pub is unnamed and Ferguson is looking to get local residents to help come up with a title, saying he wants to differentiate from Mirage's late-night club image.
“When we came up with the Mirage, we wanted something that would depict something with a certain aura of class to it but also it suited us because we were building something that basically belonged in downtown Vancouver that was built out in the valley; that was kind of like a mirage because it didn’t really belong. So the word ‘mirage’ resonated with us really well,†he said.