Award winning chef to bounce back with new restaurant
Award winning chef Aiden Byrne has revealed he is opening his latest venture in Salford.
The chef recently closed the doors on his MCR venture in Spinningfields and failed in his attempt to open a venue in Liverpool
But Byrne, who was one of the youngest chefs in the country to win a Michelin Star, is teaming up with millionaire businessman Fred Done for his latest venture.
Developer Salboy, which is owned by Fred Done, has signed a deal with Byrne to open a new restaurant at its Local Blackfriars development in Salford.
The venture will use all three floors of the restored Grade II listed Black Friar pub on the corner of Blackfriars Road and Trinity Way.
Black Friar
It will also include a new single level glazed building to the side.
Salboy founder and director Simon Ismail said: “We always envisioned a new and exciting use for this historic pub and getting Aiden on board demonstrates our commitment to delivering the very best – whether its new homes or a new restaurant.
“This is an area packed with character with much loved venues like The Eagle Inn and Blueprint Studios and the reborn Black Friar will add to the mix for the growing number of people living here.”
The vision is to create a traditional pub interior with wood panelling and open fires in the original building with casual dining and an open kitchen in the linked modern building which faces onto the development’s courtyard gardens.
On the first floor will be an intimate fine dining restaurant of around 20-25 covers served by a kitchen on the third floor with the potential for a chef’s table.
Salboy’s partner construction firm Domis, led by Lee McCarren, will undertake the fit-out.
Byrne who owns the Church Green pub in Lymm won a Michelin Star when he was just 22 and ran the kitchen at Manchester House when it opened in 2013.
He launched Manchester House but parted company with the owners Living Ventures to work at 20 Stories.
He reopened the restaurant after it went into administration but has since called time on the project.
He also pulled out of plans to take over Steven Gerrard’s restaurant Vincent Café in home town – Liverpool.
Simon Ismail
He said: “I am so excited by this. Simon and Lee are just gorgeous blokes who really wanted this to happen and for it to be the very best. They have been great to deal with. I was introduced to them and was gobsmacked by the quality of work at Blackfriars and their passion for the area.
“It will bring a whole new experience to this part of the city with the ground floor providing the hustle and bustle of casual dining and the pub providing the ‘local’ for Blackfriars.
The £2m restaurant is being funded by Salboy and Domis with a significant personal investment from Byrne and his wife Sarah who will run the operation as a team.
Planning is due to be submitted early next month with an opening slated for late summer.
Local Blackfriars provides 380 apartments and penthouses and a new street of town houses with a host of resident amenities around a central landscaped courtyard.
Salboy has also recently submitted an application to build 115 more homes on nearby Queen Street.
Salboy has more than 1,200 units under construction with a further 2,000 in the design process, aiming to deliver the highest quality of city centre apartments with luxury amenities.
Current schemes include:
Local Blackfriars, Salford – 380 apartments, townhouses and penthouses across two striking towers with the restored Grade II-listed former public house, the Black Friar repurposed as a gateway entrance.
Local Crescent, Salford – Three buildings creating a central landscape courtyard and providing 399 apartments and town houses. Top class amenities with a heated swimming pool, cinema room, yoga studio, gym, laundrette, courtyard gardens, coffee shop, solarium, sauna & spa.
Burlington Square – 273 apartments close to the University of Manchester with ground floor communal areas and resident’s gym.
SYNQ- MCR – Providing 183 apartments over eight stories with ground floor commercial units, communal facilities, and a rooftop garden in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
The Press, Manchester – The Conversion of a Grade II listed printing works to create 66 New York-style 1, 2 & 3 bed apartments and townhouses close to Angel Meadows and the NOMA district.
Castle Irwell, Salford – A new community of 500 new homes on a sweep of land framed by the River Irwell. Planning expected late 2020.
Simon Ismail will be speaking at a BusinessDesk.com property lunch. Tickets can be reserved here.
