New Belfast restaurant goes against ‘troubled times’

Peter McCloskey, owner of Oliver’s Coffee Bars and restaurant and award-winning barber, has invested his time and over £150,000 into a new eatery on the Upper Newtownards Road.

The Newtownards man highlighted that despite the “very stressful times” being felt throughout the whole of hospitality, he hopes that his new restaurant ‘Broker’ can bring something new and refreshing to the area.

He explained: “The restaurant was previously the Abbey Insurance Brokers, hence the name. We will be employing 15 staff between kitchen and front-of-house and offering a great brunch menu along with fantastic coffee and in the evenings it will be a licensed restaurant. It’s been fitted out to a very high specification, with a cool sound system for our vinyl collection.

“It was a large investment - £150k plus- so it’s been a fairly stressful few months, especially during these troubled times with all the negative news and the disastrous mini budget that total ignored the oppressive VAT, twice what many countries in Europe have to pay. Hospitality is essential for society so should be supported by Government.

“But if we all sit back and do nothing Belfast will be in an even worse state. I hope Broker can bring something new to the area proving just how valuable hospitality is across Northern Ireland.”

Peter and his family own and run a number of coffee bars and restaurants scattered across the city.

He added: “My daughter Rachel will be running Broker, as she has made a great success of Oliver’s on the Belmont Road. Thankfully both Oliver’s cafe and restaurant have a very strong loyal support which we are extremely grateful for.

“We have very talented chefs starting plus great bar staff, so we are very confident we will be able to deliver a great offering. The chefs will primarily be cooking with the Bertha charcoal oven, probably the only restaurant in East Belfast cooking in this style.”

Broker is set to open mid October for brunch then mid November for evenings.