Developer MRP has announced that a new 120-seater restaurant is the latest tenant to relocate to the iconic £85 million Ewart building on Belfast’s Bedford Street.

Flame, which has been a popular Belfast venue since 2013, will open its new restaurant in The Ewart in early summer (2023) providing an all-day food offering for the building’s many office workers, as well as a wider city centre clientele and visiting tourists.

The 2,677Sq ft restaurant, which will be located on the ground floor of the building and accessible via Franklin Street, reflects the growing demand for space within The Ewart which has only 4 office floors remaining.

Flame adds to the rich mix of local and global tenants that have located their offices to the leading city centre development, including Deloitte, AXA Insurance, MCS Group and Tughans.

As one of Belfast’s premium restaurants which is committed to providing its customer with great experiences, Flame will be a vibrant addition to the best in class, contemporary design of the historic Ewart.

Dating back to 1870, The Ewart is the final phase of MRP and construction partner McAleer & Rushe’s Bedford Square Development which has been fully transformed with a 17-storey building complementing the original Grade B listed sandstone warehouse.

Commenting on the new signing Paul Beacom, Development Director, MRP said:

“One of Belfast’s most innovative, sustainable and flexible buildings, The Ewart is a great fit for the future vision of many businesses and the arrival of Flame reinforces its broad appeal. The restaurant adds to the dynamic and diverse range of businesses that are locating their head offices in our landmark development, and it is further supporting the regeneration and growth of the City Centre.”

A spokesperson from Flame said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be part of this new and exciting development in the heart of Belfast. This high footfall area will not only benefit our business but also help to grow the city centre economy which Flame has been a part of now for more than a decade. We see the original building as a beacon of Belfast’s heritage and have fully embraced the opportunity to invest significantly in a state-of-the-art fit-out courtesy of O’Donnell & O’Neill which bring a new lease of life to Flame as we know it. We look forward to welcoming customers to our new location early Summer 2023.”

Laura Galloway of CBRE NI commented:

“CBRE NI are delighted to have been involved in the letting’s success of the £85m office development including the recent letting of the ground floor retail unit to Flame.”