Watch: The Wolverhampton restaurant back with a musical bang in 2024 after refurb

Since it opened in 2021, the restaurant has welcomed guests in to enjoy traditional barbecued food such as rump steak, chicken wings and pork ribs, as well as take a ride on the Rodeos mechanical bull.

It has continued to bring in families and fans of Texas BBQ over 2023, as well as begin a tradition of live music at least twice a week from local artists and imports from the United States.

Now, after a refurbishment which has seen new stalls and a balcony area created, the restaurant is now equipped to welcome more than 100 people at booths and tables spread around the room, as well as a new selfie area and the now-continual presence inside the main arena of the mechanical bull.

Owner Simon Parton said the beginning of 2023 had been difficult, but a growing reputation as a family-friendly restaurant and music venue had helped boost trade.

He said: "January is always a tough month and last January was possibly the hardest we've had, even when we were going through Covid times.

"However, we found that by putting a lot of time and effort into our social media, which we use instead of advertising, we started to get a lot of engagement.

"A lot of it was by doing fun and engaging TikTok videos and Instagram posts, with one that I did about a recap of an enjoyable country night here going viral, with more than 700,800 views.

"It shows off the acts we've had here, from Dolly Parton tribute acts and Luke Combs, who is massive at the moment, and we seem to have fallen into it at the right time."

Mr Parton said his own workload has increased as he kept up with producing the videos, while the restaurant has welcomed people from across the country, including people with campervans in the car park and people who have stayed in local hotels and enjoyed a night at Rodeos.

He said the restaurant was going to remain a family-friendly venue at its core and said he was getting used to seeing whole families coming in to spend an evening there.

He said: "We're finding that we're getting tables of 15 or 20 people, with the whole family coming in, and I feel we've produced a place where generations can come together.

"They're not just stopping for a meal, they're staying the whole night and we're almost having to kick them out at the end of the night, and you've got the older people who we help up the stairs as they're not going to be beaten by those.

"They come to enjoy good food and the staff interact well with them."

The restaurant has welcome people such as the Deputy Mayor of Wolverhampton Linda Leach, as well as people who said they hadn't heard of the place until they'd seen it on social media or from friends who had been there.

In order to fill demand, two new booths were installed, as well as the new church balcony, in the area previously fill by the dessert station, while the mechanical bull is now out permanently as Mr Parton said it added to the experience of the place.

He also said that the place had become a venue for artists from the country music capital of Nashville in Tennessee, with one big star announced for September.

He said: "I find a lot of people are cowboying up to come here, with one message saying 'I don't feel daft walking through Wolverhampton in cowboy hat and chaps' and when I drive here, I see people in cowboy gear and know where they're going.

"We've been approached by a number of artists from Nashville and we had Justice Storm, who performs twice a week in Nashville, last month as he flew over for two gigs and we were one of them, and he can't wait to come back.

"He told me that a lot of musicians over there know who we are and when they look at country bars in England, we're up there with some of the best country bars according to them.

"Steven Cade has signed up to play here on September 12 and one of the things he does is donate a good portion of his fee to a homeless charity, which he'll do while in Wolverhampton."

For Rodeos, Mr Parton said the next year was looking bright, with plans to expand to a second venue, but also making sure that anyone who came in has a great time.

He said: "We've had some great compliments and feedback and we feel like we've got a lot of things right, so we feel like we can take the next step to increase our capacity to 130 people and keep that wild west feeling all the time.

"It's a place I think people can come to and celebrate any occasion and we do some great deals, such as a steak and drink for £5.

"We are also in an iconic building, steeped in history and I will never get fed up with this place."