A new flagship gin bar is set to open its doors in Tynemouth.
Pleased To Meet You has become one of the North East’s most popular leisure venues since first opening its doors on Newcastle’s High Bridge in 2013.
Now the brand is heading to the North Tyneside coast with a March 16 date pencilled in for its opening.
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The venue is currently taking shape in what was 29 Bar and Kitchen on Tynemouth’s historic Front Street.
Nestled between the award-winning Longsands Fish Kitchen and Ora tapas bar and restaurant, Pleased To Meet You Tynemouth will offer freshly prepared afternoon teas made in-house daily, modern British brasserie food, and the gin and cocktail menu it has become famous for.
The £500,000 venture is expected to create up to 30 jobs.
It will be operator Crafted Projects’ third Pleased To Meet You following its move into the market town of Morpeth, Northumberland, last autumn, where it opened its doors in the 400-year-old Queen’s Head Pub on Bridge Street following a major refurbishment.
Crafted Projects - a division of the Ladhar Group, which in December 2020 acquired North East pub brand Sir John Fitzgerald, whose portfolio included 29 Bar and Kitchen – has been responsible for the reinvention of a number of well-known Newcastle city centre bars and eateries, such as Lady Grey’s, Central Oven and Shaker and the Gunner Tavern.
Barry Ladhar of Crafted Projects said Pleased To Meet You Tynemouth would be in the same vein as its namesakes – a classic gin bar with luxurious features.
He added that the company had listened to its customers in moving to the popular seaside location.
“Tynemouth is a well-known and established circuit with discerning clientele that often visit our Newcastle Pleased To Meet You.
“We have listened to our customers that have long demanded a similar venue closer to home, and we’re delighted to be able to house our brand in a much loved building.
“It extends our brand’s city and country reach with a coastal addition. This will be reflected in our food and cocktail menus.”
Tynemouth Front Street with its eclectic mix of independent modern-themed bars, cafes and design-led shops just a few minutes’ walk from some of the UK’s best beaches and tourist attractions, has in recent years become a fashionable eating and drinking out destination.
A plethora of restaurants and boutique bars has opened with more set to join Pleased to Meet You Tynemouth in the not too distant future, among them Toast, part of the Riley’s Fish Shack stable of food outlets which, as the name suggests, will be serving a mostly toast-based menu from breakfast until late using bread from its own artisan bakery.
Like both Pleased To Meet You in Newcastle and Morpeth, the Tynemouth venue is located in an historic building, in this case dating back to the Georgian era. Until 1968 it was the Baxter’s Tearoom before becoming a public house and evolving into Fitzpatrick’s, Hugo’s and then 29 Bar and Kitchen.
