belfast restaurant – Licensed & Catering News (LCN) – News Coverage from the Local Trade

Owners’ regret at having to close award-winning Blank

Joe Kearney — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:25:48 +0000

The award-winning Blank restaurant ,which opened in Belfast over two years ago, is to close and a new dining offer will open in the same location.

Owners Christina and Jonny Taylor cited the financial strains of operating the restaurant, including escalating wages and the rising costs of local produce in making Blank financially unviable and the venue will close its doors in June this year.

Christina and Jonny also operate Shed Bistro on the Ormeau Road in the city and Christina spoke of her regret having to take the difficult decision on Blank.

“We took a gamble in October 2021 with the opening of Blank which was a new dining concept for a restaurant in Northern Ireland and for more than two years it has worked. However the ever increasing cost of doing business and the amount of staff we need on site simply renders Blank unviable. The cumulative pressure has become too much and we feel we need to redesign the restaurant offer at that site.

“The margins in operating such a fine dining restaurant are very finely balanced. While we have always been very busy at weekends, it has been more difficult to attract customers midweek and far too often we get last minute cancellations, often of more than one table.

“When that happens it makes that days trading unviable. I really hope customers take this on board, and give a restaurant booking the same status and respect that goes with a theatre or a concert booking.

“Blank will remain open until June 8th and I urge anyone who wants to have the Blank experience to do so. All Blank vouchers should be used in that period too.”

“All of the staff from Blank will be transitioning to our new restaurant which we are determined to make a success. Unlike Blank, this new venue will offer a more casual and accessible dining experience with an order-from-the-menu concept. The Blank experience is hard to accept but we will be part of the restaurant scene in Belfast and in Northern Ireland for the long term.”

Tables for Blank’s new restaurant, which is yet to be named, will be available to book from Friday 3rd May.

The new restaurant will continue using local produce, offering a more relaxed dining experience that celebrates the best of Ireland’s culinary bounty.

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Broker restaurant chef to take on venue after closure

Joe Kearney — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 13:20:15 +0000

A popular restaurant in east Belfast has announced its closure due to “impossibly high expenses” and staffing concerns..

Despite Broker opening in October 2022, owner Peter McCloskey, who also owns Belfast’s Oliver’s chain, is now closing the restaurant saying it “has never been harder”.

“It’s too hard to get quality staff here in Northern Ireland,” he said. “If we had the staff here that they have in other countries the industry would be totally different.

“Here, it is seen as a luxury to go to a restaurant but working in one is seen as just a casual job.”

Mr McCloskey feels the government can and should provide restaurants with greater support.

He said rate relief and reducing VAT to 13.5% from 20% (the rate for the hospitality and tourism sector in the Republic of Ireland) would help business owners.

“Restaurants in GB are paying discounted rates and down south the VAT is much more manageable, places here have such impossibly high expenses and then people can’t afford to eat out,” he said.

“The rates are just far too high here, you have to bring in an awful lot of money to make any money.

“We are heading to a place where the only restaurants that can afford the rates in Belfast are chain restaurants, and that’s not what we want, we want to see talented and creative chefs in the city, not just a lot of chain restaurants.”

Chef Chris Hayden plans to take over the unit where Broker resided.

“He is a very talented chef and he has a lot of ideas he wants to showcase, he is the head chef at a hotel at the minute but having your own restaurant means you can put your stamp on things and do it the way you want to,” Mr McCloskey said.

He added that Mr Hayden can offer customers in east Belfast a great menu and has a supportive staff around him.

“He is a good chef and he has good chefs who want to work under him, you need a good staff to offer customers food they are willing to pay for and he will have that,” Mr McCloskey said.

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Mourne Seafood Bar owner ‘stepping back’

Joe Kearney — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 08:48:29 +0000

The founder of a popular Belfast city centre restaurant is stepping away from the business after struggling to recover lost trade post-pandemic.

While the Mourne Seafood Bar will continue operating as usual under new ownership, Bob McCoubrey, who founded the Mourne Seafood franchise back in 2005, said he was “stepping back from it all”.

In an interview with the Irish News, Mr McCoubrey said: “There was just too much debt. We had no debt pre-Covid. You just don’t get a chance to pay it off with the margins so slim.”

The Bank Street restaurant, which opened in 2007, announced earlier this year that it would be closing for lunch during weekdays, as hybrid working has meant less footfall from people working in offices.

This comes after soaring energy costs have made it even harder for hospitality businesses to stay afloat.

The eatery’s outdoor seating area, set up to allow people to dine out during lockdown restrictions, was also destroyed last summer, causing what Mr McCoubrey estimated to be £15,000 worth of damage.

He said: “I am stepping back from it all. I just decided to cut my losses and give a new team a go at it.”

Those taking over comprises the restaurant’s management and staff and so customers likely won’t notice a difference, Mr McCoubrey said.

He added: “The fresh company has a new start and they are going to honour all the gift vouchers. Customers won’t be affected and suppliers won’t be affected. They have all been paid.”

The Mourne Seafood Cookery School will also be unaffected.

The original Mourne Seafood Bar, in Dundrum, Co Down, was taken over by its staff seven years ago.

Now, McCoubrey’s company, Mourne Seafood Limited, is in the process of being wound up to settle the significant debt that has built up post-pandemic.

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Chicken chain set to open Odyssey branch

Joe Kearney — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 08:15:13 +0000

A Canadian-owned restaurant chain is set yo open a new outlet at Odyssey Place over the coming months.

Mary Brown’s Chicken is the latest eatery to open in the venue, joining the likes of Nandos, Five Guys and Zizzi already in place.

The chicken chain launched its first NI location earlier this year, opening at the Lisburn Leisure Park. It will now take on a 2,800 sq. ft. unit at Odyssey Place, which is expected to open in June.

Two other new tenants have also been confirmed.

Local operator McGuigInns will open Odyssey Place’s first licenced premises, Chapter & Verse – a bar and restaurant serving local cuisine. The team is due to commence fit out at the start of April and will be open by August.

The third tenant announced is the popular UK family entertainment centre Funstation.

The new entertainment venue will occupy a 10,600 sq. ft. unit and is expected to be open by September.

These latest lettings bring the Belfast leisure complex to 90% occupancy.

Investment company Matagorda 2, who acquired the long lease for Odyssey Place in 2016, said it is currently in advanced discussions with potential operators on the remaining units to let.

It will bring a mix of arcade games, virtual reality gaming and escape rooms, and a dessert parlour is also being included for those with a sweet tooth.

The entertainment on offer from Funstation will add to existing tenants Cineworld, Lost City Golf and Hollywood Bowl.

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New boutique hotel and restaurant for Harp Bar site

Joe Kearney — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 14:26:38 +0000

A new hotel, bar and restaurant is set to open in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter this summer.

The Ducales Group, who own St Anne’s Square, has announced a multi-million-pound investment into its latest hospitality development, The Foundry, which will transform the site of the original Harp Bar on Hill Street.

The Foundry will boast a 350 capacity bar and restaurant and 20 boutique hotel rooms across three floors.

General manager Jim Crawford-Smyth, above, said, “We are very excited to reinvent this historic Belfast site. We have spent a lot of time curating the concept of the hotel, while still ensuring the site itself retains its legendary status.

“With The Foundry we are challenging the traditional take of a boutique hotel while also reflecting and accommodating the bustling social scene within Belfast city centre. It is our hope that the new bar and restaurant will present the perfect hangout space, with a relaxed, sophisticated atmosphere with good food and drinks on offer.”

With the street’s former name being Foundry Street, the new venue pays homage to the history of its home and will create 40 local jobs.

In the late seventies and early eighties, the Hill Street site housed the Harp Bar, known for being the go-to for the NI punk scene with many popular bands such as The Undertones, The Outcasts, and Stiff Little Fingers regularly coming through its doors to play.

The Ducales Group brought on board the expert eye of Gordon Devenney of O’Donnell O’Neill Design’s Belfast studios, to design the building’s interiors.

The group has also commissioned commercial street artist, Visual Waste, to help with the building’s interiors to ensure The Foundry will be a real head turner.

Gordon Devenney said: “A lot of history has happened on this site that we wanted to make sure we didn’t forget and so have tried to encapsulate what that was all about whilst still injecting a modern yet classic twist with The Foundry.

“It has been a lot of fun to work with the guys on this project. The Foundry will be like no other venue or hotel in Belfast.”

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