Grosvenor welcomes Côte, the French brasserie chain who recently opened a 2,707 sq ft restaurant on Liverpool ONE’s Paradise Street at the former U.S. consulate building featuring the grand gilded bald eagle*. Côte is split over two levels with an outside terrace. It is the group’s first restaurant in the city, and only its second in the North West.
Côte launched with its first site in Wimbledon in 2007. The brand has traditionally been focused on the South and South East, but is expanding to key locations throughout the UK.
Commenting on the addition of Côte to Liverpool ONE, Miles Dunnett, Head of Asset Management, Grosvenor Liverpool Fund, said: “Over the last 18 months, we have focused on attracting premium dining brands to Liverpool ONE to create a concentration of restaurants on Paradise Place, adjacent to John Lewis, to complement the existing offer on The Terrace. Côte finalises the mix, joining Byron, Browns and Jamie’s Italian in establishing a new premium dining destination in the city.”
Fantastic and well-established location
Harald Samuelsson, Joint Managing Director of Côte, added: “Liverpool has a thriving restaurant scene, driven to a great extent by the success of Liverpool ONE. These factors combined made our decision to debut in the city an easy one. We are in a fantastic and well-established location, and bring great value, high quality all day French dining to Liverpool.”
Sales up, footfall up
Côte brings to ten the number of catering brands to have joined Liverpool ONE since January 2013. The brands, which range from grab-and-go operators to premium casual dining, total almost 40,000 sq ft. The new additions also include a number of North West and Liverpool firsts, such as Bill’s Restaurant, Byron, TGI Friday’s, Tortilla and Hotel Chocolat’s Cocoa Bar Café.
This news coincides with a 12% increase in catering sales year-to-date at Liverpool ONE. In addition, with the peak Christmas period yet to come, footfall for 2014 has already surpassed the 26 million achieved last year, and is on track to exceed 27 million for the first time.
*About the U.S Consulate in Liverpool
In 1790, only seven years after winning its independence from Britain, the United States of America chose Liverpool as the site for its first ever consulate. The city’s growing transatlantic trade made it a vital partner for the USA, keen to exploit further commercial opportunities with Liverpool, Britain and beyond.
The consulate building stood in Paradise Street near to the quayside of Steers Dock, the world’s first commercial enclosed wet dock. Above its entrance graced the wooden sculpture of a gilded bald eagle, the proud symbol of the newly unified country.
Many Americans visiting the city were seamen, and the eagle was a recognisable icon if they needed help or advice in an unknown town.
The consulate eventually closed after the Second World War, when Liverpool’s importance as an international port declined. The building had a number of uses before it became The American Eagle pub and finally The Eagle before closure in 2003 to make way for the Liverpool ONE redevelopment in 2008.