Welsford Bistro is nestled inside Liverpool’s landmark Anglican Cathedral
Damien Flynn and Neil Blackhurst of the Welsford Bistro at Liverpool Cathedral. (Pic Andrew Teebay)
A city centre bistro which started off making just £1 per day is now thriving in an unlikely location. Welsford Bistro is nestled inside Liverpool’s landmark Anglican Cathedral, offering customers a dining space like no other with a menu crafted by a chef who’s worked in some of the UK’s best restaurants.
The restaurant is the product of decades of experience from Neil Blackhurst, who is the venue’s general manager and owner, and Damien Flynn, the head chef who previously led the kitchen at the city’s beloved 60 Hope Street. Neil and Damien first met when they worked in London’s hospitality industry, and in 2020 they decided to go into business together amid testing times for restaurants in the UK.
Speaking to the ECHO, Neil explained that he used to manage the cathedral’s previous café, when it was under different ownership. During the coronavirus lockdown, he contacted the cathedral to ask “what the score was” with the venue, before taking it on in October 2020.
He said: “With the social distancing we set up a little pop-up there with soup, scouse, coffees and sandwiches. We started off, me and Damien, taking £1 or £2 a day to start with and built it up over time.”
Damien Flynn and Neil Blackhurst of the Welsford Bistro at Liverpool Cathedral. (Pic Andrew Teebay)(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The second round of lockdown restrictions forced the friends to shut down their business for three months, during which they renovated the bistro space in time to fully open to customers in April 2021.
Neil said: “It has grown massively from taking £1 a day to £3,500 per day. We aren’t a big, massive place but we have tables in the restaurant, on the main floor of the cathedral and then on the porch. We have 70 tables altogether.”
Now the restaurant serves a menu of traditional dishes like fish and chips, scouse and breakfast classics, as well as a special Sunday menu of roasts which frequently see every table of the bistro fully booked during the 12pm to 4pm roast dinner service.
Despite starting life as a mobile cart, the restaurant has expanded to occupy a large dining space serving locally sourced meals and hosting unique private dining experiences.
Damien Flynn and Neil Blackhurst of the Welsford Bistro at Liverpool Cathedral. (Pic Andrew Teebay)(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The unusual location of the bistro and ‘hidden gem’ nature of its home inside the cathedral means Damien is tasked with designing a menu that caters to a wide range of customers.
Neil explained: “We could serve a one year old Scouse lad and then a 90 year old tourist” and added: “It’s hard to create a menu because we want to keep it fresh but we also want to keep the traditional bits.”
While other food venues are able to reliably predict their busy periods each week, Neil said that a coach trip or cruise ship excursion can mean they suddenly see an influx of customers.
He said: “At first we were just piggybacking on people coming to the cathedral but now we have the same people who come in as regulars. On Sundays it’s people who wouldn’t come in [to a place of worship] normally, and then they come in for a roast and they’ll go on to light a candle or go up the tower and it’s bringing people into the cathedral.”
A percentage of the profits made by the Welsford Bistro are handed back to the cathedral, and Neil maintains that “first and foremost it’s a place of worship”.
Damien Flynn and Neil Blackhurst of the Welsford Bistro at Liverpool Cathedral. (Pic Andrew Teebay)(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The unlikely location of the bistro has received mixed reactions from some visitors, and Neil said: “Some people say they don’t like that you can have a coffee in a cathedral and they say it’s disgusting, but then other people say they love it.”
He added: “People might not want to go to a service but will turn their chairs if they are here for a coffee.”
Damien, who worked at a number of Michelin star restaurants prior to his role at the cathedral bistro, is originally from Leicester and moved to Liverpool after meeting his partner, who is from Kirkby.
Liverpool local Neil, from West Derby, said the business is proud to use local ingredients, including meat from Bexley’s craft buthcers and fruit and vegetables from Almond greengrocers. Neil boasted “our scouse is very scouse”, adding that Damien bakes fresh bread every day to accompany the hearty dish. The bistro even brews its own beer at Black Lodge Brewery in the city.
Welsford Bistro is open Monday to Saturday from 10am until 4pm, and Sundays 12pm to 4pm.