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."
