McCoys team moves on

The McCoy’s Rooftop Restaurant at the top of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead is closing in mid-June, with the team behind it opening in a new site in Newcastle city centre later that month.

Restaurateur Eugene McCoy also owns the 32-year-old Cleveland Tontine with bistro and rooms near Northallerton. He said they decided to leave the Baltic because “we were in a situation where we had to decide whether to carry on or not and a place in town became available.”

The new site in Moseley Street is currently being turned into 50-cover restaurant McCoy’s Brasserie. He said it will be “Tontine-esque” with a bar to eat at as well as banquette seating. Rooftop Restaurant’s Executive Chef Marcus Bennett will co-own the new venture with McCoy. The Head Chef has yet to be named.

The Rooftop Restaurant opened six years ago, shortly after the free gallery opened and at the beginning of the quayside’s regeneration, which included the nearby Sage Gateshead music venue. McCoy’s also ran the Riverside Restaurant in the building for a year before it was taken in-house.

However, this restaurant closed two years ago and has since been used for events.
A Baltic spokesperson said, “We are currently reviewing the overall catering offer at the Baltic,” adding that further plans will be announced “later this year”.

She refused to be drawn on whether the space will be filled by a top-name local chef, or whether the internal catering would look after the restaurant, as with the ground-floor caf? bar and events division.

This story appears in today`s edition of Restaurant magazine.​