Wands/Forks at the ready. A fantastical Harry Potter and wizard-inspired spot is scheduled to open in Guelph this September.
Called Lumos: Breakfast House and Chamber of Spirits, it will be in the space presently occupied by the West End Bakery on Wyndham Street, which is closing next month. Renovations begin this July.
After a series of online submissions and voting, the name “Lumos” was chosen. While the name wasn’t selected from a sorting hat, the process involved hundreds of people and a plethora of name submissions, including the four finalists: The Lumos Lounge, Decantations, The Fenix Lounge and the Chamber of Spirits.
“What won was the hybrid of the two,” said Thomas Gofton, a local entrepreneur and owner of the new venture. “Lumos is what it’s being called with the subtitle ‘Breakfast House and Chamber of Spirits.’”
Following the path of other Harry Potter spots, The Lockhart bar and tapas lounges in Toronto and Montreal, Lumos will be more of a subtle homage than overt replica of the Harry Potter world.
“It’s not going to be quirky like upside down stairs, there’s probably not going to be candles hanging from the ceiling, but there will be call outs”.
Unlike Gofton’s other ventures, The Round Table on Essex Street and Afterlife on Wyndham Street, Lumos will be less thematically dramatic and will function dually as a breakfast place in the morning and a cocktail bar in the evening.
The menu will be specialized toward alternative, interactive and gourmet breakfast offerings including, savoury waffles, and cauldrons that double as hot pots. At night, you can try an exploding cinnamon cocktail.
The price for menu items will be midrange, Gofton said.
If Harry Potter and the fantasy life isn’t for you, a sci-fi bar is being considered by Gofton as his next themed project in Guelph.
“Maybe I’ll do eight different places and call them the horcruxes,”.
