Ex Hollyoaks star Adam Rickitt looks totally different as he reopens his gin bar in Cheshire

SOAP star Adam Rickitt looks totally different as he reopens his gin bar in Cheshire.

The former Hollyoaks star, like other publicans, had to see his bar Dexter and Jones gin bar in Knutsford close for months as part of England’s lockdown restrictions to help defeat the pandemic.

Adam, who owns the bar with wife Katy Fawcett, looked over the moon as facilities were permitted to reopen on Monday, April 12, in the latest easing of lockdown.

Like other pubs and restaurants, Adam can serve up his gin drinks outside.

Posing with Katy outside their premises, gin in hand, Adam looked very different too his former Coronation Street character Nick Tilsley.

The 42-year-old portrayed the role from 1997 to 1999 and then from 2002 to 2004.

 Back then Adam became something of a heartthrob with his blonde hair in curtains and sported a six pack.

No longer clean shaven, Adam now sports a light beard and wears his hair shaven at the sides and short on top.

He left Corrie the first time in ’99 to start a music career signing a six-album deal with Polydor although he only released one album Good Times.

His first single Breathe again went to number five but the album only got to 41 in the charts and Adam was subsequently dropped.

Adam also dabbled with a career in politics signing up with the Conservative party in 2005.

He was approved as a prospective parliamentary candidate – appearing on Question Time in 2006 – but didn’t find a seat to stand in.

In 2010 he even covered the Conservative party conference for ITV television programme Daybreak.

In 2014 he joined the pop group 5th Story on The Big Reunion before taking up as Kyle Kelly in Hollyoaks in 2017 until his character’s heartbreaking suicide in the soap.

Since leaving Hollyoaks he has been busy producing his own gin with Good Morning Britain reporter Katy, 36, whom he married in 2014.

Last year Adam revealed he had Ankylosing Spondylitis and the autoimmune disease has left him infertile.

He revealed his sperm count has been hugely affected by the chronic inflammatory disease that can cause vertabrae to fuse together.

Adam’s diagnosis came when he and Katy first got together in 2011.

The actor said people can be “brainwashed” into wanting kids, but he and Katy are content with their three dogs.

During filming of his last episodes on Hollyoaks last year, Adam revealed he was suicidal for 17 years.

He said: “It’s quite out there in the public forum that I had issues with an eating disorder but what I don’t think I have spoken about is my issues prior to that.

“For 17 years of my life I was essentially suicidal.

“It comes in peaks and waves but a great proportion of my adult life I did spend suicidal.”

Adam told the Loose Women panel that his problems with mental health started age 13 and it was a long road to his recovery aged 30.

“When I first heard about the storyline, I was excited as an actor to be able to portray such a dramatic journey, and pride that the team had entrusted me to do it.

“There was also a sense of personal fear. Like all too many I had to walk a similar path in my lifetime and the idea of revisiting that, even in the world of fiction, was slightly daunting.

“As sad as I am to say goodbye to Kyle, I have loved being a part of Hollyoaks. It’s been a fantastic show to work on.”