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Artist’ s impression of new Middlesbrough restaurant, The Fork in the Road, which will provide catering job opportunities to the long-term unemployed, including recovering addicts and ex-offenders.
High-end eaterie will be a Fork in the Road
A unique Teesside restaurant is set to open its doors but great food isn’ t the only thing on the menu. Jobs for the long-term unemployed are on the cards too, thanks in part to the efforts of Tees Business readers
Charity leader Andy Preston is the driving force behind The Fork in the Road restaurant, community café The Spoon and Bar Sobrio.
The former site of Romer Parrish, once a much-loved toy shop, theatre of dreams to thousands of Teesside children, is set for a new lease of life. And the new restaurant that will open there is set to cause a very different but welcome stir.
The Fork in the Road will offer catering opportunities for the long term unemployed including ex-offenders and recovering addicts.
The previously derelict premises on Middlesbrough’ s Linthorpe Road were chosen due to their close proximity to the town’ s booming Baker Street and Bedford Street areas, bustling with start-up businesses, micro-pubs and eateries.
The not-for-profit social enterprise will also feature a community café, The Spoon, and Bar Sobrio, a dry bar.
Along with the NHS, the fit-out costs and working capital for the unique scheme are being funded through Middlesbrough-based national charity CEO Sleepout, with £ 45,000 of the cash coming through a fundraising event organised by Tees Business.
Former Middlesbrough FC colleagues Dave Allan of DNA PR & Publicity and Martin Walker of Mantis Media encouraged 60 Teesside business leaders to sign up to sleep rough for one night on the Victorian Street at Eaglescliffe’ s Preston Park Museum. The money they raised in their sleep will now help to fund a project that could go on helping to get the long-term unemployed back on their feet for many years to come.
Charity leader and businessman Andy Preston, the founder-chairman of CEO Sleepout and the driving force behind the project, believes there is nothing like The Fork in the Road anywhere in the UK.
“ The Fork will be amazing,” says Andy, who is also chairman of charitable movement, Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation.“ It’ s been hard work and development work has taken longer than I had hoped but it’ ll do incredible things over time. I’ m convinced this is a truly unique project in the UK and will set a new national standard.
“ The restaurant will be high end and will always deliver excellence. It will be a great place to come along and enjoy great food and first class service amid a warm atmosphere. It will look the part too.
“ But where it will differ from other restaurants of its type is that alongside very experienced, top class professionals, we’ ll train a small cohort of local people who need
and deserve that precious opportunity to create a new life for themselves.”
With planning permission granted, work got underway in June on the two-storey project, with The Fork restaurant and Bar Sobrio planned to open by October, while The Spoon café will follow some weeks later.
Andy believes Bar Sobrio will play an important role in Teesside ' s recovery scene. It won ' t serve alcohol but it will be a great place to mix with friends and meet people, while the bar will also be made available to hire for private functions.
Bar Sobrio was planned with valuable input from Dot Turton, CEO of Middlesbroughbased recovery service Hope North East, and Rachel Burns of Middlesbrough Council.
The project will be the most tangible success yet for CEO Sleepout, a charity that has become a national phenomenon since its Middlesbrough launch just three years ago, with around £ 800,000 raised through events held at a series of landmark venues across the country.
Since the first sleepout event at Middlesbrough FC’ s Riverside Stadium in 2013, events have taken place at Wembley, Old Trafford cricket ground, The Oval, Villa Park, St James’ Park and Cardiff Castle. Funds raised elsewhere have helped to fight homelessness and poverty across the country, with 15 % of all funds coming back to Teesside.
For more details about the project visit http:// andypreston. org. uk / or http:// www. theforkintheroad. co. uk / or www. ceosleepoutuk. com