Having finally taken over the premises which he had tried for four years to acquire, the new owner - who also runs the company Laser Light International - wasted no time. First he applied for a PEL (which he hopes will give him a 3am license) and then he contacted his friend, Glasgow-based Nadar Shahzad of Blue Audio. Shahzad reports, "Mark wanted the venue to constantly change colour. Although he hadn't seen the Mood panels, we had been sent a demo unit last year - and I knew this would be the perfect solution for him."
Offering a split screen display, Mood Light Panels can be mounted on virtually any surface, making them perfect for bars and restaurants. At Bar Soviet six panels form a matrix display and throw blocks of colour at customers, surrounding what is Bedford's biggest vodka bar.
Once Shahzad had begun the design everything else fell into place and the Mood panels are complemented by ten of the three-watt and 32 of the six-watt RGB MR16 LED downlighters - with their high-lumen output and 50,000-hours plus lamp life. These are distributed throughout the venue to provide an ever colour-changing atmosphere.
For Mark Walker, whose first bar venture this is, the result is spectacular. "I have spent £200,000 on this venture and around 10% of that is on the sound and light technology. But this is only the beginning, and we plan to add further LED effects in the future - as well as importing some furniture from Sweden."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
