There's a buzz back in the air at St Vincent, where a staff training day is under way and Terry Laybourne and his team are busy gearing up for the restaurant's big March 9 reopening day after three long years of closure.
St Vincent, in Broad Chare just off Newcastle quayside, shut its doors in March 2020 when the Covid crisis hit and now it is all set for a relaunch and restaurateur Terry is delighted. "It's a lovely space," he says of the vibrant dining area which adjoins Live Theatre and soon will be including pre-theatre deals on its new menu. "It feels great."
Customers have asked repeatedly about when St Vincent would reopen. "It's a relief more than anything to be able to tell them something definitive," he says. Of the restaurants in his 21 Hospitality Group, which include his signature 21 nearby; The Broad Chare gastro pub just down the road and - in Fenwick Food Hall - Saltwater Fish Company and Porterhouse Butcher & Grill, this is the last to reopen following the pandemic - although it was the first to close. And he remembers the night well.
