{"id":444562,"date":"2025-09-23T01:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444562\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T01:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:21:19","slug":"date-historic-city-centre-building-will-reopen-as-top-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444562\/","title":{"rendered":"Date historic city centre building will reopen as top restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The team behind the ‘best restaurant in Liverpool’ is preparing to open a new site\"BarnacleBarnacle moves into the former Florist site on Hardman Street(Image: LIVERPOOL ECHO)<\/p>\n

A date has been set to breathe new life into the historic Royal School for the Blind<\/a> building. The site, which most recently operated as The Florist Bar and Restaurant, has been acquired by nationally acclaimed chef Paul Askew<\/a> who will expand his Barnacle business across the entire ground floor.<\/p>\n

The Florist closed in October 2024 as part of restructure by parent company, New World Trading Company. The botany-filled restaurant opened in 2018<\/a>, but has been left dormant for the last year.<\/p>\n

Following on from Barnacle’s debut in Duke Street Market i<\/a>n 2021 and the current street food pop up on the Royal Albert Dock<\/a>, this new venture will be the first stand-alone restaurant for the seafood concept.<\/p>\n

The bar and lobby will host a soft launch this weekend, with the grand opening of the restaurant space and the entire ground-floor set for the October 4 weekend.<\/p>\n

The new Barnacle site<\/a> will be led by head chef Kieran Gill and Paul Askew. Paul’s son, Harry, and the Art School team will “bring fresh gastronomic life to the site” by working with Merseyside’s finest local artisans, farmers and producers including Wards Fish, Almonds Fruit and Vegetables.<\/p>\n

\"ConceptConcept art for Barnacle on Hardman Street(Image: publicity picture)<\/p>\n

The restaurant and bar will reflect Liverpool\u2019s storied history as a port city and the culinary inspirations which have found their way here over time.<\/p>\n

The terrace overlooking Hardman Street will be available for cocktails while the entrance to Barnacle will be split with the bar to the left and restaurant to the right.<\/p>\n

Harry Askew, restaurant director for Barnacle Restaurant & Bar<\/a>, said: \u201cWe can\u2019t wait to open our doors and show people our new home. We really feel Barnacle has now found its true home in a unique building which offers several spaces to dine, drink and socialise in.”<\/p>\n

Paul Askew said: “Our new home is a Grade-II listed building and originally part of The Old Blind School. It\u2019s a historic place, part neo-classical and part art-deco, imbued by Victorian grandeur and with the Philharmonic Hall and Everyman Theatre as our neighbours.<\/p>\n

“At Barnacle we offer something for everyone, from a quick drink to a full dining experience, to sharing a bottle of wine and catching up with friends, to popping in for flowers on the way home from work.<\/p>\n

\"ConceptConcept art for Barnacle on Hardman Street(Image: publicity picture)<\/p>\n

“Our bar is a wonderful, cosy space with the addition of what I like to call our secret snug which seats just twelve people. And back across the lobby, the main dining space is a joy; we\u2019ve longed for an environment like this to serve lunch and dinner, and finally we have the perfect venue for the Barnacle Restaurant & Bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul added: \u201cMy dad was Captain Barnacle Bill Askew and he sailed the world on the Blue Star lines. His travels inspired me when I was young and along with my mother, they set me on my culinary path decades ago.<\/p>\n

“I always think of barnacles on the hulls of the great ships which once sailed to and from Liverpool and how so much culinary knowledge and experience ended up here and helped shape the dynamic range of flavours, styles and secrets from countless far-flung locations.<\/p>\n

“And we will proudly tell the story of the city\u2019s food and cultural odyssey through its maritime history at Barnacle, this time from our very own restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry added: \u201cWe can finally realise our true vision for Barnacle, opening in a beautiful city-centre setting, which is completely our own space, where we\u2019re curating our version of modern gastronomy. It\u2019s the right time for us to open up this next chapter and bring Barnacle back to Liverpool, in true form, to be part of its thriving culinary scene.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The team behind the ‘best restaurant in Liverpool’ is preparing to open a new siteBarnacle moves into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,8899,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-444562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-liverpool-restaurants","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115250992627789413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}