{"id":241134,"date":"2025-10-26T10:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/241134\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T10:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:16:14","slug":"former-derby-zanzibar-nightclub-sultan-statue-gets-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/241134\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Derby Zanzibar nightclub sultan statue gets makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jude Winter,East Midlands and <\/p>\n<p>Caitlin Mcaleavey,Derby<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761134355_471_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/b790e700-b0c8-11f0-a624-a701f0c6125b.png.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"BBC Sultan sculpture before and after a makeover\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>BBC<\/p>\n<p>The sultan sculpture has been painted to resemble St Patrick<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A statue from a former nightclub in Derby has been given a makeover following a move to its new home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The Sultan of Zanzibar statue greeted visitors from the canopy over the Zanzibar venue in London Road before its closure in 2012.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">After being <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-derbyshire-22918084\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">refurbished with gold paint<\/a>, the statue spent time at The Bell &amp; Castle and The Woodlands pubs, and has now been repainted to resemble St Patrick as it moves to O&#8217;Dwyers bar in Friar Gate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Marc O&#8217;Dwyer, a manager at the bar, said: &#8220;It&#8217;s a brilliant piece that will no doubt become part of O&#8217;Dwyers history.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761134355_471_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/bfec22b0-b0dd-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Google The statue in situ after the nightclub had closed\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Google<\/p>\n<p>The nightclub fell into disrepair before becoming the Cosmo buffet restaurant<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Zanzibar opened at the turn of the millennium in the former Gaumont Palace Art Deco cinema building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The distinctive 2m (6.5ft) bronze-effect sultan statue above the entrance came down after the nightclub closed in 2012.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr O&#8217;Dwyer said the sultan was then listed by Cosmo restaurant in an online charity auction about 12 years ago, when it moved into the venue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He clubbed together with a group of 11 friends to buy him for \u00a3420.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">As well as being located at two city pubs, the artwork also spent time in Mr O&#8217;Dwyer&#8217;s parents&#8217; garden.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761134355_471_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/9c755990-b0de-11f0-8d18-7d1a7c91f196.png.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Graffiti artist in red hoodie stood in front of sultan statue\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Graffiti artist Darrell Wynne, also known as Soap, repainted the statue<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Derby graffiti artist Darrell Wynne, also known as Soap, said it took him more than four hours to give the sultan its new look.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;It was a bit of a shot in the dark, I just threw myself in at the deep end and managed to pull it all together,&#8221; said Mr Wynne.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;I wanted to bring back the nostalgia of the statue and make it another talking point of Derby.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr O&#8217;Dwyer said Soap is an &#8220;incredibly talented artist who has truly captured the spirit and humour of O&#8217;Dwyers Bar&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;The detail and creativity in his work have made everyone proud, and we&#8217;re beyond excited to see the statue take its rightful place hanging proudly inside the bar, overlooking our customers as they enjoy a pint,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jude Winter,East Midlands and Caitlin Mcaleavey,Derby BBC The sultan sculpture has been painted to resemble St Patrick A&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-241134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}