Bistrot Pierre says Bonjour to Birmingham

AFTER laying dormant for over 150 years, one of Birmingham’s oldest historic gems is set for a new lease of life – and it’s all thanks to Le Bistrot Pierre.

The restaurant group acquired the former home of Birmingham’s canal company in 2012 and has been renovating the Grade II listed building ever since.

With a £9.8m investment from a private equity firm, the restaurateurs have been  able to add a two-storey glazed extension to the building to ensure views of the canal, whilst keeping many of the original Georgian features.

The exposed brickwork and character of the former transport hub remains, giving the restaurant a unique appearance, dissimilar to any of the group’s other bistrots.

Sitting in the bar, architectural assistant at Gillespie Yunnie, Nicola Donnery said: “We’ve not only brought this part of the building to life, but also added a new bit; not only helping to make sure the restaurant functions, but bringing new and old together. There’s something really nice about that.”

The architects have kept the low ceilings, wrought iron staircase and even the shape of each room, accommodating diners in every antique crevasse of the building.

“It’s just those added details, in a project like this, it really is the detailing that makes the difference,” added Ms Donnery.

The restaurant seats 130 diners and has created 40 new jobs for Birmingham’s thriving food and drink scene. Situated on Gas Street and moored between the city’s liveliest spots – Brindleyplace, Broad Street and the Mailbox – the restaurant is expecting to capitalise on the busy footfall with returning customers.

Co-owner of the Le Bistrot Pierre chain, Rob Beacham said: “It was always going to happen at some point – we were just waiting for the right opportunity to arise in central Birmingham.”

The restaurant on Gas Street is the third Bistrot to open this year and the owners are already keen to work on the next project.

“We’re opening one in Manchester soon, Weston-super-Mare in the summer and another restaurant will be coming to Birmingham very soon. Hopefully in a few years we’ll have three or four in the area. Perhaps Solihull, Stourbridge and Edgbaston.”

Co-owner, John Whitehead said: “We’ve chosen a site that not many of the big restaurant groups would go for, but we like quirky, slightly off pitch sites and I think the building has been brought back to its original splendour.

It’s a gorgeous building and it was really run down but we’ve managed to shoehorn a restaurant into it,

It’s just so different from the rest of Birmingham – all the new builds are like big square boxes, but we’ve got a lovely old piece of Georgian architecture here.”

John Whitehead (left) Rob Beacham (right)

  Bistrot

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