Golf fans were quick to make jokes about Justin Timberlake after hearing the musician and Tiger Woods have heard they can convert a cinema into a bar.
Golf fans were quick to make jokes about Justin Timberlake after hearing the SexyBack singer and Tiger Woods have been given the green light to convert an old cinema into a sports bar near St Andrews.
The New Picture House Cinema, which is a matter of yards from the home of golf, will be converted into a luxury sports bar called T-Squared Social.
Two cinema screens will be retained in the development and around 40-45 jobs will be created, according to Fife Council.
The cinema’s owners have welcomed the news, insisting that the site ‘currently runs at 10 per cent occupancy’ and is ‘no longer a viable stand-alone cinema operation’.
They have vowed to take ‘great care’ to ‘preserve and celebrate the historic architecture and design’ of the venue, which was opened in 1930 and seats 700 people.
Some other key features, such as the ceiling, wall and stage will be kept.
Woods and Timberlake decided to become business partners after playing golf together in the Bahamas a few years ago and the duo have already opened one T-Square Social in Manhattan, New York, last September.
Their attempts to erect a sports bar near St Andrews attracted widespread criticism from the locals.
More than 10,000 people signed a petition against the plans.
“This town has been very good to Tiger Woods and this is not the way to repay residents,” St Andrews Community Council member Neil Dobson told The Courier.
“St Andrews is unique and that building is iconic. An American bar is completely out of keeping. It will be full of American golfers with nothing left in the town for 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren at all.”
Woods last played St Andrews at the 2022 Open Championship.
He missed the cut at the landmark 150th edition of the major and was reduced to tears as he crossed the Swilcan Bridge in what was likely his final Open appearance at the iconic links.
St Andrews probably won’t host another iteration of The Open until at least 2027.
Timberlake also played at St Andrews at the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2019.
Timberlake has been in the headlines recently after he was arrested for drink driving in New York last month.
The 43-year-old was described in court documents as having ‘bloodshot and glassy’ eyes when he was stopped in his BMW.
Documents also stated the pop star had a ‘strong odour of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath’.
The BBC have reported that Timberlake also refused a breathalyser test.
Predictably, a number of golf fans on X touched on the subject when reacting to the fact he and Woods have been given the green light for their sports bar.
“As long as Justin takes a taxi then it’s okay,” one wrote.
Another added: “Pub name? Drinking and driving.”
This person wrote: “Just remind Justin the drink drive limit is a lot lower in Scotland than the rest of the UK.”
The sports bar is expected to open in 2025.
Under the proposals, work has to begin within three years.
