The new venue in Liverpool is set to open its doors next month
Ffrens in the Baltic Triangle, Liverpool(Image: Iain Watts)
A new food and drink venue is set to open its doors in the Baltic Triangle. Alison Lockett-Burke, who is behind supperclub and catering business Fig and the Wild, has joined forces with Sub Rosa and The Botanical Gardens owner, Pedro Hunter, to soon bring the new neighbourhood canteen and wine bar, Ffrens, to the area. The business partners met after Alison launched the food truck, Burner, at Sub Rosa last summer.
Alison told the ECHO: “With Fig and the Wild, we do lots of foodie events and things. Lots of our clients were always like, ‘we wish we had somewhere to go that was more regular’, because our supperclubs sell out.
“Just by chance, I went to view a premises, I wasn’t even looking for a premises, and fell in love with it and then chatted to Ped about it, who then brought his wild creativity and was like, ‘why don’t we do food offering and then also do a gorgeous little wine bar in the evening time?’ So that’s how it became a new venture.”
The food side of the business will be “informal”, offering fresh salads, as well as hot meat and vegetarian mains. Alison added: “So it’s almost a bit like the supper club vibe where we probably won’t have a set menu, but people can come in daily and see what is made.
Ffrens will be opening soon
“They can eat it in in our gorgeous space or they can take it away. Or even take stuff home to eat for dinner that night, you know, if you were having a dinner party you could come and buy gorgeous things to bring home.”
Discussing its drinks offering, Pedro said: “This is sort of our first site with a roof, with a nice selection of wine, some by the glass, some by the bottle, some to take away, alongside a little bit of a takeaway deli offering with lovely bread, some nice salts and oils.
“So a little bit like a food and drink mecca in the Baltic. If you like a selection of different things you can pop in.”
The venue is planning to open its doors to customers on June 1 after keeping plans underwraps until last week. It is located on Bridgewater Street in the Baltic Triangle area.
Pedro added: “It’s just been building without announcing it, which has actually been really peaceful and beautiful. But I think the Baltic Triangle is quite solar powered as an area.
“We’ve got some outdoor seating which I think will be beautiful to enjoy lunch in the sunshine. But the site lends itself going into winter and seasonal months.
“We’ve got some lovely neighbours, Hobo Kiosk and Manifest, that I think compliment what we’ll do.
“We both know the area very, very well. You bump into people and they’re quite excited for it to happen. It feels more like returning home, than opening a new thing.”
More information on Frrens can be found on its Instagram page.