A new £2m restaurant has opened in Weetwood, creating 25 new jobs at launch and bringing a Mediterranean lifestyle to the suburbs of Leeds.
Over 150 guests attended the official launch of ‘Convive’, which is part of the University of Leeds-owned Weetwood Hall estate, and were treated to live music and dishes ranging from sashimi grade tuna steak and Ibérico pulled pork burger to brodetto di pesce (traditional fish stew from Tuscany) and Galician beef.
The new 120 seat restaurant and bar is now open to customers looking for a high-quality dining experience outside of the city centre as well as to guests staying at the popular hotel complex. It also features an alfresco area under a retractable roof within the gardens.
Convive will be twinned with Mediterranean restaurants across Europe creating inspiration through innovative chef swaps and ingredient sourcing on quality food and drink. Many ingredients used in the dishes on the menu will be sourced from local Yorkshire suppliers.
As part of the £2m spend, significant investment has gone into the kitchens with a brand new build and kit installation totalling over £500k.
Convive is the vision of Martin Hicks, Managing Director of Weetwood Hall who, over the past 25 years, has been responsible for establishing Weetwood Hall as one of the leading hotel and conference venues in the region.
Profits from the Weetwood estate and now Convive are gift-aided to the University of Leeds. These donations are of great benefit to the city of Leeds as it is invested into research and development projects undertaken by the University as well as funding educational resources. Several million pounds has been donated over the past two decades purely from profits generated by Weetwood Hall.
Said Martin: “Convive has been in planning for a long time and I’m delighted my original vision has finally become a reality. Not only is it a great way to build on 25 years of success at Weetwood Hall but it’s an impressive addition to the restaurant and bar scene in Leeds. We’ve created a true destination restaurant to rival anything in the city centre so to have such a high quality establishment out of the centre will provide a real alternative to visitors looking for something different. I’m also very proud that the University and the city of Leeds as a whole will benefit from any profits generated by Convive.”
For more information about Convive visit www.conviveleeds.co.uk