Sheffield restaurants: Successful duo set to open third venue in former Henry's wine bar in city centre

Tom Aronica and Jack Wakelin plan to launch a restaurant in the former Henry’s wine bar on Wellington Street.

The pair have already found success with Public bar, the Pearl at Park Hill and Bench restaurant in Nether Edge.

Now they have applied for a licence for Maria Restaurant in a prominent unit in the city council’s £470m Heart of the City regeneration scheme.

If approved, it will join a cluster of bars, cafes and restaurants in the area including Kapital euro beer hall, Hygge cafe, Marmaduke’s cafe, Pret a Manger and the Cambridge Street Collective food hall.

In 2017, Jack Wakelin was appointed general manager and cocktail expert at Public, which opened in a former toilet block beneath Sheffield Town Hall, and Tom Aronica was made head chef.

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Together they helped it achieve the honour of being named 'best place to drink’ in the prestigious Observer Food Monthly Awards in 2018.

The pair previously ran popular supper club Bench at locations in Kelham Island and on Abbeydale Road before opening a restaurant of the same name in Nether Edge.

The Pearl at Park Hill, which opened in September 2023, was their second venue and was named in the country’s top 50 cocktail bars.

They have also opened Bench La Cave restaurant next door described as ‘bakery by day, wine bar by night and bottle shop all day’.