In a blast from the past, city bar As You Like It has re-emerged on the social scene in Jesmond.
The old name of the bar-restaurant made a sudden appearance on Facebook in place of Zarabanda Bing Bing which had taken over the Jesmond venue last summer. By then, As You Like It had been closed for 18 months, due to the pandemic, and its owner Apartment Group had spent £500,000 on a revamp to turn it into an exotic new venue.
Boasting a seventies Ibiza holiday mood and Spanish-theme menu, it adopted as its name the title of a 1966 comedy film with the aim of capturing a sense of both style and fun. At the time, Debrah Dhugga, chief operations officer with the Apartment Group, said: "As You Like It was shabby-chic but it was getting a little bit tired - it was ready for refreshment."
Read more: Hew Jesmond restaurant Lovage captures a taste of the Med
Its replacement Zarabanda Bing Bing was out to evoke a sense of when Ibiza was a sophisticated playground for the world's rich and famous. Its attractions included a photobooth and an upstairs terrace and mezze bar area catering for 60 diners.
But, as it reinvents itself a little more than a year on, customers are told that while there will be a few tweaks to the decor, that name-change is the biggest difference they can expect. And reverting back to old times may be a relief to regulars who it seems never quite got out of the habit of calling the bar by its original name.
Rachelle Jacques, business development manager at Apartment Group, suggested Zarabanda Bing Bing's re-branding is meeting customer demand. "Everyone has such fond memories of As You Like It as a venue and people still refer to it as As You Like It," she said.
"There was a real demand to bring back the As You Like It ethos of the place." There's now a new executive chef in charge of the menu so there will be some differences to the food and drink on offer, she said, while other popular attractions will include live music and events.
She added: "We're taking everything that we love about Zarabanda Bing Bing and combining it with everything that was great about As You Like It." For more about the venue and what's on offer keep an eye out here.
Read Next
