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LIVING Ventures, the restaurant and bar group behind concepts such as Australasia, The Alchemists, The Oast House, Artisan, Manchester House and Blackhouse, are to bring their 'high-end Italian' concept, Gusto, to Manchester city centre.
"It's wrong for us not to have done it earlier."
The new Gusto shall occupy the current 3,5000sq ft Olive restaurant site on Lloyd Street and knock through into the Grade II listed Elliot House (1878) - the former city registrar's office and more recently the temporary City Library building at 151 Deansgate - to create a mighty 8,500 sq ft restaurant with a Deansgate frontage.
The project shall cost somewhere in the region of £2m.
There are already a number of Gusto restaurants (menus here) spattered around the peripheries of Manchester in Alderley Edge, Cheadle Hulme, Didsbury and Knutsford as well as in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Newcastle, Cookridge and Heswall.
The Gusto menu features classic and contemporary Italian dishes, with pizzas, deli boards, pasta, risotto, seafood and meats buoyed by a hefty selection of wine.
Olive Restaurant, Lloyd Street
Tim Bacon, CEO and co-founder of Living Ventures, told M&C Report: "It will be a completely different animal (to the existing Olive restaurant).
"It will be good to take a proper Gusto into Manchester because it's our hometown and it's the only one of our brands that we haven't got in Manchester.
"It's wrong for us not to have done it earlier."
It'll be two months before work starts on the site, with an opening expected around early August 2014.
Looks set to be a busy year for Living Ventures, who are also to occupy the Label bar site at 78 Deansgate, bringing New World Pub Company brand, The Botanist (Alderley Edge) into the city centre too.
Following their colonisation of Spinningfields, looks like Tim Bacon has his sites set on the city's aorta, Deansgate.
Find out more about Gusto here.
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13 comments so far, continue the conversation, write a comment.
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I wonder when MC will wheel out the famous quote "yet another Italian restaurant the city doesn't need"!
I've always found the Gusto in Didsbury to have really good service and the food is reasonably priced.
Italian? Zzzzzzzz
Sure is great but is TRUE to ask WHY another ITALIAN.....
And why not exactly?
its a YAFI. Oh dear. I thought the LV lads had grown out of these.
Naive or facetious or both; perhaps because it's a successful restaurant/bar concept that works.
Excellent use of the word "spattered"
With the Living Ventures take over of Spinningfields and now Deansgate are we going to rename the area Bacon St/Alley?! To be fair must give LV respect as they provide (mostly) excellent quality food and drinks with consistent great service, staff and surroundings.
Yes, there are lots of Italian restaurants in Manchester, with their tired old menus and inconsistent quality. I have been waiting and waiting for a branch of Gusto. Although I like Alderley Edge and Knutsford, it's a long drive from my home on the north side of the city. This will knock the slouchy old socks off the other Italian restaurants. Yes, Tim, you have indeed left it too long and we are more than ready for this. Please be open in time for my birthday in August.
Hi, Please email me manchesterbdm@oliverestaurants.uk.com and we can get you booked into Gusto in August for your birthday. Georgina
Lovely bit of PR.
Only just spotted Jonathan's comment as I was looking up the latest opening details for the Manchester branch. This really wasn't PR - I'm a normal, bill-paying customer!