A new seafront bar is set to throw open its doors for the first time tomorrow.

Looky's Lounge Bar, located at the Best Western Palace Hotel and Casino on Douglas promenade, will welcome its first customers on Friday.

The coffee and cocktail venue, which boasts stunning views of Douglas Bay, has been named after Lucas Martin, a beloved Manx sportsman who tragically died after contacting meningitis last year.

The 21 year-old, who was affectionately as ‘Looky’ to friends and family, had worked behind the bar at the hotel and casino during his summer holidays while studying University of Liverpool with a degree in International Business.

He was described as an ‘amazing man’ and ‘a friend to so many’ in loving tributes following his sudden passing in September 2023.

Lucas’ father Brett Martin, who has taken over the venue and will run it with other members of his family, said a huge amount of work had gone into transforming the lounge.

Just a month ago, the site was hit by flooding after a bout of heavy rain drenched parts of the island.

Mr Martin said: ‘We had water coming in through the roof and we were flooded.

‘We had to move cement around to stop it setting.

‘The transformation in the last two months has been absolutely incredible. Once officially open, the bar will act as a cafe and coffee shop during the day before transitioning to a venue for drinks and cocktails during the evening.

And as well as bearing Lucas’s affectionate nickname, the lounge features other tributes to Looky’s memory.

A blanket of cherry blossoms, a nod to Lucas's love for the flower, is suspended on the venue’s ceiling while a picture of Looky accompanied by information on the charity set up in his name has also been mounted on one of the walls.

His family hopes that the bar will not only be a place to remember Lucas but also act as a venue to celebrate community and the potential of every individual.

Mr Martin, who has a long association with the Palace Group, said the idea to run the venue emerged shortly before Lucas’s death.

He said: ‘We started thinking about this place in early summer last year, and at the time it wasn’t proposed it would be Looky’s Bar, but then obviously we lost Lucas in the planning process in the early stages of designing the bar, and we thought what a fitting tribute to the man to use his name. Described as a place where ‘Manx meets Manhattan’, the lounge is set to open between Sunday and Thursday between 8am and 1am and between 8am and 3am on Friday and Saturday.

Looky’s will open to the public tomorrow (Friday, May 24) at 7pm, and the first 50 people through the door will receive a £10 Palace voucher to spend at the group’s businesses.