Amble along for a taste of the Mediterranean

Jun 24 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A TOUCH of Italy is on the way to a Northumberland fishing port with the opening of a restaurant after an entrepreneur won a £50,000 grant.

An Italian-style restaurant will open in the heart of Amble in the building formally known as the Bread Bin, which closed in January 2009 with the loss of six jobs. The new business is to create 14 jobs.

Regional development agency One North East approved just under £50,000 from its Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) for the project after Northumberland County Council officers worked closely with the business to bring forward a suitable funding package. When complete, there will also be two rentable offices available to local businesses.

The project is the brainchild of financial adviser Mark Jones who has worked in Amble for more than five years and spotted the potential of the derelict building to give local people a gastronomic and tourism boost.

He approached restaurant entrepreneur and award-winning chef Richard Sim to form the company Zuppa Restaurants Ltd which owns Zecca – the name of the new restaurant.

Richard said: “Zecca means ‘brand new’ in Italian which is exactly what we are about. Amble is often described as the poor cousin of Alnwick and we want to try to address that and bring something new to this beautiful place.

“Amble needs to jump on the tourism bandwagon in order to progress but the facilities need to be there for that to happen. Restaurants have been identified as one of the main things lacking to benefit local people and attract tourism to take Amble forward as an enticing coastal destination.”

Work has now started on the renovation of the building which includes a complete revamp of the now tired shop front and the business is due to open next month.

It is hoped the restaurant will have a big impact on tourism in the area. In April 2008, Miller conducted market research on behalf of One North East and Northumberland Strategic Partnership that identified that if Amble was to succeed in attracting more tourism and bring more jobs to the area then it needed more restaurants and visitor accommodation.

Adrian Sherwood, RDPE manager at One North East, said: “This is great news for all concerned in Amble who will benefit from a new restaurant, office space, local jobs and ridding the town of what could have become an eyesore.”

The Rural Development Programme for England 2007-2013 is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, with the aim of delivering targeted support to rural businesses and communities. It is managed in North East England by One North East, Natural England and the Forestry Commission.

For further information on the full package of support, visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/northeast  or tel: 0845 600 9 006.

For more information on RDPE in North East England, visit www.rdpenortheast.co.uk