The Strong Avenue space that spent more than two decades as a Northampton music fixture is getting a new name and a familiar set of hands behind the bar. Franc Kromholz, Garrick Perry and Stephanie Agnew are transforming the former Bishop's Lounge into Proof & Concept, a venue the trio says could open within a few weeks, with renovations already well underway.
According to MassLive, Kromholz said the painting inside the space is about 90% complete, and sound equipment is already on site. He told the outlet he and Perry were intimately knowledgeable about the space and decided quickly to work together, a partnership that grew out of years of history in the building. Kromholz previously managed Bishop's Lounge from 2006 to 2011 and later bartended at Sierra Grille, the restaurant on the building's first floor, from 2015 to 2020.
A Building With a Long Musical Memory
The building at 41 Strong Ave. was formerly the Bay State Hotel, which transformed its first-floor dining room into a late-night indie music venue in the 1990s. Bishop's Lounge later opened on the building's third floor in 2003 and became a local music hotspot before closing in the summer of 2025, per the same MassLive report. Proof & Concept will occupy that same third-floor footprint, located one block from Main Street, with the Tunnel Bar across the street — a neighbor Kromholz said has had a good back-and-forth relationship with the venue over the years.
Kromholz credited his ability to pursue the project to a two-family house he inherited after his father died, which gave him discretionary rental income to invest. He said he would not have pursued the venue without partnering with Perry and Agnew, and singled out Agnew as, in his words, the great organizing force behind the operation. Agnew is Perry's wife, while Perry himself is a Northampton city councilor and a rapper with the group Alchemystics.
Chasing Genres Northampton Hasn't Heard Enough Of
Perry wants Proof & Concept to reach underrepresented music genres in the area, including R&B, hip-hop, world music and electronic music, according to Kromholz's account to MassLive. The venue plans to make live music the central focus of its operation while offering a wider range of sounds than typically fills Northampton's stages, and the room itself is sized for touring and local bands rather than competing with larger venues in the region.
Beyond music, the owners may offer the space during the day to community organizations for workshops or clinics, giving it a second life outside nightlife hours. Kromholz has acknowledged that the bar and entertainment business has been difficult since the pandemic, a reality that looms over any new venue trying to find its footing in this stretch of downtown.
A Slightly Earlier Last Call
Proof & Concept plans to open at 4 p.m., earlier than Bishop's Lounge did, giving the space more daylight hours before the music crowd arrives. A separate report from The Daily Hampshire Gazette describes the operation as Three Publicans LLC, noting the partners leased the 1,350-square-foot space in June and were working toward an end-of-October opening. That account describes a balcony overlooking Strong Avenue and Union Station, a main room with a bar serving craft cocktails and mocktails, and a lounge area featuring a claw machine stocked with band merchandise and gift cards. Perry reportedly hopes to offer four draft cocktails, each named after a local Northampton business, with the venue slated to run Wednesday through Sunday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Bishop's Lounge itself closed on July 20, 2025, after reaching an eviction agreement with its landlord, according to MassLive's earlier coverage. A separate proposal floated moving the bar to 300 Pleasant St., but the Gazette reported that the Northampton License Commission continued owner Carla Racine's application for a location change and license transfer rather than granting it outright. Northampton licensing records show a related public hearing on the commission's agenda for a new annual all-alcohol license tied to The Three Publicans LLC and the Proof & Concept name at 41 Strong Ave., with Kromholz listed as proposed manager.
