Owner of Cork & Dough and Imperial talks new pop up bar and reopening venues on Saturday

Ian Pitts has built quite a business empire in St Helens.

It started with Imperial Bar and Terrace, and he's added Cork & Dough pizzeria, The Church basement rum bar and The Secret Garden coffee shop and gin venue.

And he's not stopping there...as he is launching an outdoors pop up bar on Brook Street - over the road from his venues on Ormskirk Street.

He says all venues, (except The Church due to sizing and difficulty adhering to current social distancing restrictions), will "hopefully" be open this Saturday.

The Imperial will be available for pre-booked tables only.

Ian said: "We are really excited to reopen and please be rest assured that our team has worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to put in place all the safety measures to keep you, and our people safe.

"The Imperial, The Secret Garden and Cork and Dough will reopen on Saturday, though The Secret Garden has been open serving coffee and beverages in recent weeks for take-away already.

"We are hoping our new venue, the pop up bar which we are working on with Seven Brothers Brewery from Manchester will also be open for then,  but we are waiting for confirmation from the council to hear about the outdoor seating as it's an outdoor only bar.

"We are also hoping for seating outside Cork & Dough, but we await the council to sign that off.

Outdoor seating at Cork & Dough

"We are bringing a number of things in to keep people safe like pre-payments, tables distances to government guidelines and hand sanitisers on the tables.

"We want our visitors to enjoy our venues, have fun and stay safe."