St James’ STACK, the container village being created in the shadow of Newcastle United’s stadium, has unveiled its team sheet of traders ahead of opening this summer.
The transformation of the St James’ Metro Station car park is well underway to create a dedicated fanzone and all-round street food and entertainment venue out of repurposed shipping containers.
St James’ STACK presented by Sela is being constructed at Strawberry Place, in a unique partnership between STACK and Newcastle United.
Among those taking up residence in the venue will be Tiptop – which will offer a range of Asian-inspired noodle and rice dishes and will be launched by Kevin Liu, who has owned numerous restaurants around the city and beyond for many years.
Newcomers also include Soju & Gogi, who currently run a Korean BBQ restaurant at Dean Street and Soju & Gogi Express in Newcastle’s Grainger Market. They also have a sister restaurant – Insa Korean BBQ – in Jesmond.
Also taking over one of the shipping containers is Dabbawal, which has won a national reputation for its successful restaurants on High Bridge in the city centre and in Jesmond, and its container kitchen within HWKRLAND beneath the Tyne Bridge.
Traders returning to STACK in Newcastle include Acropolis and Texas Smoker – while a number of STACK Seaburn traders will be taking a unit at the new site, including Brack Burger and Davey’s Mexicano. Visitors will also be able to enjoy freshly made pizzas from ZZA Pizzeria and crispy duck loaded fries and wraps from Holy Duck. There will also be coffees and hot drinks, toasties and breakfast butties from Yolo Coffee & Kitchen.
Project development director Gemma Dishman said: “We think this line-up offers not only great tasting food, but quality operators who will attract their own fans. We are especially excited to have some well-known restaurants join us with their own twist on street food.”
Neill Winch, CEO of STACK, added: “We have been inundated with applications from interested traders who wished to take a unit and therefore only a select few were shortlisted to take part. We pride ourselves on being loyal to existing and past traders, so it’s great to see a number of them coming back to STACK. However, we are always looking for good quality street food offerings that will delight our customers and offer a really eclectic and exciting mix of food – and that is certainly the case with these new STACK traders who are well known on the restaurant scene. The food offering coupled with the bars and the live entertainment programme will make St James’ STACK presented by Sela and amazing place to visit at any time of the week.”
Darren Eales, CEO of Newcastle United, added: “We are thrilled to hear that STACK’s reputation and expertise has attracted such a vibrant mix of traders that will collectively create a truly unique social hub here in the city. It is exciting to see the vision continue to come to life as we progress through each phase of development, with an incredible lineup of food venders unveiled this week. As many have roots across the North East, it is a real bonus that we can provide an opportunity for those businesses to expand and grow their operations locally. We are privileged to work alongside STACK in the development of a venue that will suit varying tastes of food and entertainment.”
