{"id":914805,"date":"2026-04-24T06:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/914805\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T06:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:34:19","slug":"liverpool-smithdown-road-favourite-opening-new-venue-after-amazing-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/914805\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool Smithdown Road favourite opening new venue after ‘amazing’ success"},"content":{"rendered":"

The team said it felt like the next “natural step” given the response to the first venue\"Anestis<\/p>\n

Anestis Gaitanidis, owner of Sips & Stories on Smithdown Road<\/p>\n

The man behind a speciality coffee shop is opening a new venue after the success of his first. Sips & Stories needs no introduction to those who are familiar with South Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Located on Smithdown Road and created by Greek friends Anestis Gaitanidis and Dimitrios Samaras, the venue has built up a loyal following since launching last April. The shop sells coffee, loose leaf tea and a variety of sweet and savoury pastries, but it has gone viral several times on social media for its matcha art – take this Shrek-inspired special, for example.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, Anestis is preparing to launch The Hundred Bar, a Sips & Stories sister site, on Woolton<\/a> Road. The 41-year-old, who lives near Festival Gardens, told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201cWith Sips & Stories, we were working very closely with run clubs,<\/a> yoga groups and lots of wellness events, and so it felt like the natural step to open something for these groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo with The Hundred Bar, instead of collaborating externally, these types of groups can come to us. It is really about being more physically a part of the community.<\/p>\n

\"Anestis<\/p>\n

Anestis Gaitanidis, owner of Sips & Stories on Smithdown Road<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name comes after the Pilates exercise, and it focuses on creating a strong foundation, and that is what we want to be. People have moments every day in their lives, and we hope to be part of those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sip & Stories is Anestis and Dimitrios’ second business venture, following their first tech company together. However, this time, Anestis is teaming up with his partner, Despoina Pantazi, a 34-year-old physiotherapist, to open the new Woolton Road venue.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a very small community already, and it’s those people who gave us the push to do something more. We\u2019re building on what we already have. To be able to achieve this, a year on from Sips & Stories, is an amazing achievement – I\u2019m so proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anestis grew up surrounded by a rich culture where coffee was more than just a drink – he said it \u201cwas a ritual, a moment to pause, connect and share stories\u201d and so opening Sips & Stories was a no brainer for him when the opportunity came up.<\/p>\n

\"Sips<\/p>\n

Sips & Stories, Smithdown Road<\/p>\n

Inspired by the vibrant caf\u00e9s of Greece, where coffee breaks are an opportunity for conversation and community building, Anestis said he developed a deep appreciation for it all from an early age.<\/p>\n

Business partner Dimitrios is also “coffee obsessed” and feels he found his “true calling” in the food and drink industry. Deciding to turn their passion into a business, Anestis and Dimitrios created Sips & Stories, aiming to develop a space “where guests can gather, share stories, and build connections over a perfectly crafted sip\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hundred Bar is expected to open during the first May Bank Holiday weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The team said it felt like the next “natural step” given the response to the first venue Anestis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,578,393,786,4884,179,22136,16,15,20219],"class_list":["post-914805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-britain","tag-coffee","tag-england","tag-food-and-drink","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-smithdown-road","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-woolton"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116458295915655767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914805","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=914805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}