The reopening of Dundee’s famous Deep Sea Restaurant has been put back to next year, the restaurant’s new owner has revealed.
The fish-and-chip eatery which was said to have served The Beatles and two James Bonds closed its doors a year ago when long-term owners the Sterpaio family retired.
Fishmonger and restaurateur Darren Spink told The Courier earlier in the year he planned to reopen the shop after a “complete overhaul”.
It was initially thought that the business would be ready to open last month, but the G&A Spink owner, who also runs The Tailend Restaurant and Fish Bar in St Andrews, told The Courier this week it would now likely be next spring before the project is completed.
He said: “We’re looking at opening next year, probably in March. It’ll be a good time to open and will let us train up staff in our St Andrews shop and get into our stride before things get busy during the summer.
“There’s been a lot of work involved and it’s been quite time-consuming, but we’ll have a similar sort of capacity to the previous restaurant, around 60 people.
“We had hoped to open sooner but the contractor we’re working with is very focused on safety and doing things properly, so it looks like it’ll be March before we’ll be ready to open.
“We’re confident we have the right people on board and that we’ll be able to open on time.”
Revealing that he plans to respect Deep Sea traditions by reintroducing previous favourites like spam fritters, Mr Spink said: “It’s important for us to respect the restaurant’s legacy.
“We have our own agenda as well and will do some of our own dishes, but we will still pay homage to what went before.”
A Dundee institution for 77 years, the Deep Sea Restaurant closed last year after the previous owners, Raymond Sterpaio, 71, his brother Lawrence, 66, and wife Dorothy, 62, sold the business to the Spink family.
Over the years Deep Sea customers have included famous actors appearing in the city, including Joanna Lumley, Sir Sean Connery and Richard Todd.