Gazette News

Restaurant rebuilt after collapse

By Amanda Greaves

9:00am Friday 27th January 2012

A village bistro has re-opened under new ownership three years after the landmark threatened to come crashing down into the street.

Emergency services closed a section of Main Street in Addingham in January 2009, when the Victorian building housing The Good Food Shop bistro began to list, threatening to collapse into the road.

One demolition and complete rebuild later, a former London restaurateur has taken on the prominent round building at the corner of George Street and Main Street.

Businessman and food fanatic Andrew Wilson, of Silsden, opened new business Frewin’s Bistro this week, as a local cafe during the day and restaurant in the evenings.

Coincidentally, Mr Wilson, 56, used to run a London restaurant also by the name of The Good Food Shop.

“When I first saw the business it seemed like an omen,” he said.

Mr Wilson says the new bistro will reflect his personal ethos by sourcing local and fair-trade supplies and using energy from environmentally friendly sources.

Mindful of limited local employment opportunities, he has offered apprenticeships to four local young people who will study catering and hospitality at nearby Craven College.

It was on January 21, 2009, that eyewitnesses noticed the end of the building had begun to break away from the rest of the row and the emergency services, along with demolition experts were called in.

Previous occupant The Good Food Shop was forced to move out. The business still exists today, running an event catering business as well as a delicatessen in Addingham.

Restoring the landmark meant extensive structural work, which was carried out by Ilkley builders, masons and contractors P A Whitehead.

“It was totally rebuilt,” said company boss Paul Whitehead. “New foundations, new stone, everything, there was nothing really could be salvaged from the old building.”

Council conservation officers were involved in the scheme, and the builder researched how it was originally built, even compiling old photographs.

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