Crosby bar owners star in Sue Perkins’ new C4 reality show Double The Money  

Two Crosby friends and bar owners are among 13 couples battling it out for a £20,000 prize pot in C4’s new reality game show, Double The Money, which launches tomorrow.

Comedian Sue Perkins hosts Double The Money which challenges ordinary people to turn a small amount of cash into a bigger one.

And contestants Cath Doyle and Lynn Nolan from the Queens Nook bar and restaurant are planning to shine as two independent business owners from Liverpool – putting the spotlight on the city and getting their hands on the cash to help grow their business.

Lynn says: “We did stuff in Tranmere and Everton football grounds and involved businesses from Old Swan to Waterloo because we wanted to make sure everyone was involved and we put the whole of Liverpool on the map.”

And while she can’t say whether the pair are crowned winners at the end of the six-week series Lynn is proud of what they achieved. 

“It was hard work,” she admits. “I don’t think we realised how much it would entail and how hard it would be.

“We filmed for 16 weeks last summer and the whole process lasted 10 months.”

There were late nights and early mornings, and while Lynn admits it was tough she says: “As soon as we started I was like, we’re in it to win it.”

Both mums-of-two, Lynn, 49, and Cath, 41, opened the Queens Nook in Liverpool Road in December 2021, just as bars were allowed to open again after the pandemic.

It was a return to her roots for Lynn who worked in hospitality for Premier Inn before becoming operations manager for a law firm and then a carer; and a total change of career for Cath who was a workplace trainer for Shop Direct.

The women met a few years ago through their youngest boys, Lynn’s 12-year-old son Jude and Cath’s son Lewis, also 12, when they were playing for the same local football team, St Nicholas’s.

As their kids got older – Lynn also has Luca, 15, and Cath has Harry, 16 – Lynn wanted a change from the 9-5 job and, with thoughts of opening a bar, asked Cath if she wanted to open one with her.

She scoured the area from Waterloo to Crosby before finding the former estate agents’ office that’s now their business home: “As soon as Cath saw it she said yes, and we have never looked back.

“It was a risk but we’ve got the same work ethic and different strengths and we are very lucky to have got to near our third anniversary and done so well in such hard times.

“But we’re known for great customer service and amazing staff.

“We have events and music, and we now do food as well as drink; and I’m proud of what we’ve done.”

The determination to succeed was the same drive that saw them say yes to the TV show: “Even though we thought it was a scam when the programme makers first got in touch on Instagram,” laughs Lynn.

With echoes of The Apprentice, in Double The Money contestants are given £250 and have to come up with money-making ideas to double it.  Then they have to turn £500 into £1,000, and so on – or face elimination.

Contestants have to devise smart strategies and make sure they don’t get too comfortable – same or similar ideas used twice will also get them booted off. The winners get to keep what they’ve earned as well as the jackpot £20,000.

Lynn and Cath came up with a host of ingenious money raisers from Not A***d Bingo to fantastic food and drink ideas as the clock ticked away.

“It was stressful but it was fun too,” smiles Lynn.

Whether or not they’ve been successful remains to be seen and Cath and Lynn are keeping schtum.

But they are celebrating their appearance with a launch party and screening at the Queens Nook to tie in with the first episode of the show on C4 tomorrow (Thursday, May 9) at 8pm.

And come win or lose, they are adamant they’ll be winners.

The goal was and still is to expand with a chain of local independent bars: “We’ll maybe have a Kings Nook next and then we’d like more branded bars so we can put the city’s, and our names, on the map.”

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