To the stars of Cheshire
nothing to report. Everything that happened, happened outside of this building so we can’t really comment on that.
“We had press ringing saying we’d give you money for any video from inside, but that’s not morally on my compass.
“This is a place that people come to and it’s private.”
The club has just launched its open-mic night on Thursday where guests including Ashley’s Hollyoaks co-star and Blue singer Duncan James, as well as Love Island’s Scott Thomas, have been belting out such classics as Mustang Sally and Stand By Me.
Ashley is regularly up on stage singing too, with his house band The Mad Hatters, showing off an impressive singing voice as well as his rapping skills.
For Ashley, music is his passion, and it’s where he hopes to develop the Symposium experience with more themed live music nights in the pipeline.
He beams: “The band are incredible, and it’s a great chance for anyone to come down and sing with a live band – anyone can get up there. Even if you’ve got your own song you can bring it with you and the band will jam with you, I’ve done that before now.”
Ashley combines life as a club owner with his full-time and full-on job starring in Hollyoaks as Darren Osborne, a role he has played since 1999, as well as being dad to three children with his wife Karen.
How on earth does he juggle it all? He laughed: “It’s tricky, because of course Hollyoaks keep me very busy. This is like a passion as well. You have to have other hobbies, and I love it. It all comes through the music.
“But don’t forget I also have a family, I have a wife and three kids, it’s a crazy, crazy balance. My missus has been incredible throughout it all supporting me, I just feel incredibly lucky to have this place in Wilmslow, the place I grew up. It’s been like a trip down memory lane.”