Southend's Royal Hotel will be reborn as an upmarket restaurant.

A trio of Canvey businessesmen have taken on the lease for the Georgian-era venue, which is regarded as one of the first buildings that started Southend in the 18th century.

They have said they will invest between £250,000 and £500,000 into reigniting the Grade II listed building, which has been empty for over a year and a nightclub venue before that.

Their restaurant is due to open in January and will serve a variety of European foods with views over the estuary, while the ground floor of the building will be turned into a swanky cocktail bar.

Terry Garrett, who will be carrying out the refurbishment with his two sons, said: “There is so much history in this building.

“Standing in the ballroom I thought ‘good lord, this was built when the French Revolution was in full swing and America had its first-ever presidents, and here I am standing in it.’ “We got the licence last week, and the ‘to let’ signs have been taken down outside, and we’re here.

“It will be an exciting, and up to a point, elegant, dining experience as it is such a lovely room and building.”

The former ballroom, on the first floor, will play host to the restaurant, which will seat 80 people.

The middle floor will be open from 10am and serve hot drinks, light lunches, and alcohol, while the basement, used for clubnights in recent years, will be set aside for private functions.

Mr Garrett, along with sons Matthew and David, have started work on site now and hope to be open by early New Year.

The group has a trading name of Temada Limited, and will keep the Royal Hotel as the venue’s name when it re-opens, creating between 40 to 50 jobs.

The building was installed at the top of Pier Hill in 1791.

It was given the Royal seal of approval by Princess Caroline when it opened two years later.

Southend historian Marion Pearce, of Hamlet Road, Southend, said: “This building is one of the pearls of Southend and I would like it restored in a regency manner.

“If people can dine in a regent atmosphere then that would be lovely.”

Southend already competes well with fine-dining Leigh

Southend can already compete with Leigh in the fine dining stakes, according to the manager of a long-time town centre restaurant.

Paul Laurie is one of the managers at the Pipe of Port, which first opened its doors 1976, and he has a word of warning for new businesses starting up.

Southend has seen a clutch of new, more upmarket venues open up, such as Bourgee and Oyster Creek Kitchen on the seafront, and Mangetout moving to opposite the Pipe of Port earlier this year.

Mr Laurie, who helps run the restaurant, said: “I used to work at the Grove in Leigh and my experience is that there’s not anywhere decent in Leigh, apart from the Grove of course.

“I think it will take a little while for fine dining to take off in Southend, Bourgee opened up and started off slowly, but it is picking up now.

“But the key in Southend is to not charge extortionate prices and let your customer base grow first.

“I went to Osyter Creek Kitchen recently too and was not impressed.”

Echo:

Piazza for High Street?

A piazza could be created outside the Royal Hotel, if Southend Council’s vision is realised.

The authority has set out its vision for the town centre in the coming years, and that includes better connecting the seafront to the High Street.

A piazza, as well as ‘spanish steps’, from Lucy Road, formed a continental new feel in the council’s thinking, in its planning document, the Southend Central Area Action Plan.

And the authority would like to see piazza at the bottom of the High Street, leading onto the seafront, in future years.

Lib Dem Graham Longley, councillor responsible for tourism, was happy to see the building being brought back into use.

He said: “Clearly this will be a super addition to that end of the High Street.

“It does fit in with what we’re trying to do to better connect the seafront with the top of Pier Hill.

“I welcome this and look forward to it opening up.”