A new restaurant with a twist is set to open in Lenton on Thursday, June 2. The restaurant, Veggie Masters, will be opening in Lenton Boulevard offering a full range of takeaway classics.
Nottingham's vegetarian community will be delighted to hear that the restaurant is completely vegetarian with vegan options including burgers, wraps, pizza, noodles and pasta dishes. Veggie Masters already operates 12 different locations across the UK including Derby and Birmingham.
Co-owner Balwinder Singh and his family have invested £100,000 into transforming the once student-friendly pub into a modern restaurant ready to open in June. The family has experience in running successful Veggie Masters locations as they already operate the Derby location which was the sixth one to open in the UK. He explains why Nottingham and in particular Lenton, was the perfect location for the business.
Balwinder said: "Veggie Masters is a franchise and my family own the one in Derby and now Nottingham. It offers all the classic takeaway favourites like pizza, burgers but a vegetarian twist. Nottingham is an up-and-coming city with two universities and as we are based in Lenton, it's between the two. We are also in the heart of Lenton which is a very student area.
He added: "Nottingham has a strong Sikh community of which some are vegetarian or vegan. In our religion, eating meat is taboo and shouldn't be eaten. The restaurant is a safe space for vegetarians from our community and others."
The restaurant has taken over the site of the former Bag O' Nails pub which closed down shortly before Covid. The site has remained empty during that time. Balwinder highlighted that a lot of work was needed to transform the pub into a light, airy space ready for customers. The family has shared photos and video footage of the renovations to eager veggie food fans on their social media.
"The pub was shut down before Covid so we inherited a two-year-old failed pub. It was a lot of work to refresh the old building not just from the customer's floor but from the cellars to the attic. We spent around £100,000 on renovations alone which included equipment. We are proud of this as we've given a new lease of life to something old and dingy."
The Derby location opened in June 2020 and was a hit with customers who were ready for something new or those who were keen to try the meat-free lifestyle. Some customers put in a lot of miles to get their hands on the food.
"When we opened in 2020, our first few customers weren't even from Derby. We had people driving down from other cities like Sheffield to get the food. We even had people from Birmingham where there was already a Veggie Masters location," Balwinder said.
When the restaurant opens in June, it will start with collection or dine-in only. There are roughly about 60 seats available in the downstairs dining room but the family is operating a function hall on the floor above. This will allow customers to hire the venue for special occasions such as birthdays or graduations. Eventually, the food will be available through delivery options such as Deliveroo or Just Eat and their own in-house service.
The restaurant has created 15 new jobs for the area and the staggered delivery launch will allow staff to get to grips with their new roles. It will officially launch on Thursday, June 2nd with 20 percent off for dine-in and collection customers.
We were meant to be open in March however the renovations started in December but are still yet to conclude but should be done
The company has been releasing teaser videos and photographs of the new location on their social media pages in the months leading up to the launch. Customers reacted with excitement online to the news that the franchise is close to opening.
One customer wrote: "I have travelled to Derby on several occasions specifically for Veggie Master food. To have a branch here is going to be incredible."
