Serving the Teesside Business Community | 21
Oh this is the place to be!
The interior of How Do You Do?
C
Today’s menu: a restaurant
W
hen Joe Franks took
his girlfriend for lunch
at Hartlepool Marina
he got more than his fill – he
bought a restaurant!
Joe, who had run the Station
Hotel in Billingham for 18
months, is now the proud owner
of Open Jar, one of a number
of impressive bar-restaurants to
have opened along the nighttime magnet that is Navigation
Point.
Recalling his fateful lunchtime
date with girlfriend Charlotte
Dalby, he said: “After visiting
one of the local restaurants, we
were taking a walk around the
marina when we spotted the ‘To
let’ sign and thought it looked a
potentially nice place.
“We called the number for
Mandale Properties on the
notice and Joe Darragh came
down to meet us half an hour
later. He showed us around, we
went through some numbers
and we agreed to take it on
there and then!”
Previously home to a
champagne bar, The Open Jar
offers a combination of food by
day and drinks by night, with
Joe explaining: “While we offer
a nice range of cocktails, wines
and premium beers, we’re
mainly food-led, focusing on a
high end menu. We’re also the
only restaurant on the marina
serving fresh fish dishes such as
bass and haddock.”
But their best seller so far has
been Teesside’s favourite dish,
the chicken parmesan. “We’re
confident we do the best one in
Hartlepool,” says Joe.
Now, having spent £45,000
on a two-month refit that
included installing a kitchen and
the creation of handmade tables
from old railway sleepers, Joe
is confident they’re in the right
place.
“The Marina is definitely up
and coming,” he says. “People
come here looking for a highquality experience and they get
a real variety.”
heers! Business owner Lyndsay Kelly likes
Navigation Point so much that she’s decided
to double up and open a second quirky bar at
the bustling heart of Hartlepool Marina.
Following hot on the heels of the popular café
wine bar, How Do You Do? – opened just 12
months ago – comes Oh This Is Us!
Open during the day as a warm, welcoming
café and bistro, by night Oh This Is Us!
transforms into a quirky gin bar, doubling the 12
jobs the existing bar has already created.
“We’re focusing on gins because there’s lots
you can do with gins because there are so many
flavours,” says Lyndsay. “In fact, we’re looking to
stock up to 100 different gins!
“But we’ve also linked up with a French
champagne house to offer some high quality
champagnes.
“Like How Do You Do?, the new place is
quirky too – but it’s also very different.”
So what’s the idea behind opening a second
bar so close to an existing business?
Lyndsay adds: “The Marina is now becoming
the place to be, both for day-time visits and
evenings out.
“Hartlepool deserves a decent strip of venues
that people can choose from – and it’s great
to see people flocking to Navigation Point. I’m
confident they’ll come to love Oh This is Us! as
much as they love How Do You Do?”
Open for business: Joe Franks outside
his new bar-restaurant, The Open Jar.