Top restaurant confident ahead of high profile Liverpool opening

Steak restaurant group, Hawksmoor, is confident it can ride out the current cost of living crisis, as the November opening of its latest site, in Liverpool, approaches.

The exclusive chain specialises in steaks and seafood.

It has seven sites, in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and New York, and its Deansgate Courthouse restaurant, which opened in 2015 and was the first outside London, is considered one of the top restaurants in the city.

Established in 2006 by childhood friends Will Beckett and Huw Gott who opened their first bar together in 2003, the chain is preparing to open its latest restaurant, in Liverpool’s iconic India Buildings.

The site is currently undergoing repairs following extensive flooding in the basement, but Hawksmoor is aiming for a November opening for its latest eaterie.

Speaking with TheBusinessDesk.com the founders said they hope to overcome the cost of living crisis, having survived the last recession, and build a standard bearing business in the city.

Will Beckett said: “So far the cost of living crisis hasn’t had any impact on us, but there aren’t many restaurants that were around in the last recession.

“It wasn’t so much that people weren’t going out then, they were just concerned about what they ate or getting value for money.

“People don’t mind spending a little bit more and people are probably glad they spend money on a meal. I think people will still go to Hawksmoor to have a good meal, but maybe drop a couple of things.

And he added: “In the last recession we only had one restaurant, but it got busier.

“When things are hard, what do you want to eat, an experimental sushi meal, or steak and chips and things you know really, really well?”

He said plans are progressing for the opening in the Grade II-listed India Buildings, designed by renowned architects Herbert James Rowse and Arnold Thornely.

Liverpool-born Rowse also built the city’s spectacular Royal Philharmonic Hall, and the distinctive Queensway Mersey Tunnel ventilation towers and entrances.

Hawksmoor’s Liverpool restaurant will offer 150 covers, as well as a 16-person private dining room, the New Yorker Room, which celebrates the links between the city and New York.

Huw Gott revealed their design team has taken some of the features from their New York restaurant and transferred them to the Liverpool site.

The New Yorker Room will feature tributes to several famous people from Liverpool who have links with both cities, such as inventor of the crossword, Arthur Wynne who moved to New York, and famous crooner Frankie Vaughan.

Huw said: “Our aim is to create a room to celebrate the people who have made the journey from Liverpool to New York.”

He added: “We’re incredibly lucky to be in this amazing building. We’re revitalising and restoring and bringing it back to its original glory.”

Will Beckett said: “We just want to try to build a really great Liverpool restaurant that works in the city. We want to learn as much as we can about the city.”