A rooftop food and entertainment venue featuring the largest retractable roof in UK hospitality and 12 independent kitchens opens in Newcastle city centre next week, on the upper storey of the former Debenham’s building in Eldon Square.
Freight Island Newcastle – from the team behind Freight Island in Manchester – was due to launch last autumn but delayed opening until summer to make the most of its open-air facilities. It can accommodate up to 1,500 guests, and capacity crowds are anticipated from the outset, with live World Cup football being shown on 10 large-scale HD screens starting this month.
The culinary headline act will be Pyr, a live-fire restaurant from Cal and Siân Byerley of restaurant Pine in East Wallhouses, the Scandi-style fine-dining venue that was rated the UK’s second-best restaurant (and the best outside London) in last year’s Harden’s 100 list.
Pyr will open in early August, offering a menu of snacks from £5, small plates from £10 and larger cuts cooked over coals from £30. Cal and Siân say: “Everything we do there will revolve around fire. It’s fast-moving, open, and built around the very best produce the North East has to offer. This isn’t a scaled-down version of Pine; it’s something entirely new, and something we’ve wanted to create for a long time.”
Other food outlets include local favourite I Scream for Pizza, Meat:Stack, Miso and FAB Bakery, alongside independent operators serving everything from Asian fusion and Greek live-fire cooking to Caribbean dishes, pies and desserts. The drinks offer includes Two by Two Brewing, cocktails and a sustainability-led wine programme.
Freight Island has invested £16million in the 60,000 sq ft site, which is conceived as an all-day plus late-night operation, with a full music programme. This kicks off with a ‘Drink, Dance. Disco’ opening party on Saturday 13 June – the first in a Saturday series featuring headline DJ sets. Sundays will feature a more relaxed offering from female-led collective Sundaze, while Thursdays will focus on emerging North East artists including Lizzie Esau, Charlie Floyd, Smith & Liddle, Park View and Central Arcade.
