Paul Askew has extended his Liverpool restaurant The Art School with the creation of a new downstairs bar and private dining room.
Following a £380,000 expansion the restaurant in the city’s Georgian Quarter now includes a cellar champagne and cocktail bar with a private tutored tasting room and a 24-cover private dining room.
The space was previously home to The Kabinett bar.
“We had the opportunity to acquire additional spaces in the building and that was obviously one factor in our decision,” says chef-patron Askew.
The new spaces will also give the restaurant additional and “invaluable” food preparation and development areas, he says.
“My main motivation was to keep pushing the city’s gastronomy offer forward to deliver the capital city standards it deserves. Having these new facilities will really strengthen our ability to do that”.
The champagne bar fills what Askew says is a gap in the Liverpool’s offer within its high-end bars while The Moriarty private dining room, named in memory of Askew’s late mother, is described by the chef as a “discreet haven” in the restaurant.
“For me it’s all about raising our level as a city,” he says. “It’s not just for our diners though, it’s for all to enjoy.
"One of our guests recently described it as like a spa where the treatment is food and drink – I’m more than happy with that.”
Askew opened The Art School restaurant in 2014 in the Lantern Room of the Victorian ‘Home for Destitute Children’ building.
Members of Restaurant magazine’s R200 Club of multi-site operators can hear The Art School chef-patron Paul Askew speak at the next R200 event in Liverpool. The event is being held in Liverpool on Wednesday 21 March and will include a half-day conference featuring a wide range of speakers, including Nisha Katona, founder of Indian street food restaurant group Mowgli, Sticky Walnut and Wreckfish’s Gary Usher, and John Ennis, co-founder at Graffiti Spirits Group. The conference will be followed by a tour of some of the city's most interesting bars and restaurant. To register for this free-to-attend event contact Felicite Burke at Felicite.Burke@wrbm.com
