The Pearl at Park Hill: New bar from team behind acclaimed bistro opening soon at famous Sheffield flats

Sheffield’s famous Park Hill flats will finally have their own watering hole when a new bar opens there this summer.
By Robert Cumber
Published 18th Jul 2023, 05:00 BST
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The duo behind the popular Nether Edge bar and bistro Bench, named as one of the UK’s top 50 cocktail joints, have announced they are opening The Pearl at Park Hill next month. The new venue from Jack Wakelin and Tom ‘Ronnie’ Aronica, who previously worked together at Public in Sheffield city centre, promises to serve up a ‘seasonal, ever-changing cocktail menu, craft beer and natural wine alongside bar snacks’ when it opens in August.

Park Hill used to have four watering holes: The Parkway Tavern, The Scottish Queen, The Link and The Earl George. The Pearl looks set to be a slightly more upmarket affair than any of that quartet, which closed during the modernist ‘streets in the sky’ housing estate’s decline in fortunes before its remarkable revival in recent years.

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Jack Wakelin said: “We feel honoured to be taking on a site with such cultural history in the city. Being the largest listed building in Europe, we feel a responsibility to offer something for the community, the city, and beyond.

Jack Wakelin and Tom ‘Ronnie’ Aronica outside Sheffield's Park Hill flats, where they are due to open a new bar called The Pearl at Park Hill this August. The duo already run the successful Bench bar and bistro in Nether Edge. Photo: Rob Nicholson.Jack Wakelin and Tom ‘Ronnie’ Aronica outside Sheffield's Park Hill flats, where they are due to open a new bar called The Pearl at Park Hill this August. The duo already run the successful Bench bar and bistro in Nether Edge. Photo: Rob Nicholson.
Jack Wakelin and Tom ‘Ronnie’ Aronica outside Sheffield's Park Hill flats, where they are due to open a new bar called The Pearl at Park Hill this August. The duo already run the successful Bench bar and bistro in Nether Edge. Photo: Rob Nicholson.

“We are really proud of the drinks programme at Bench and the opportunity to do something even more drinks-led; harking back to our formative days at Public is a prospect we are super excited about.”

Park Hill, which boasted 31 shops when it opened in the 60s, is already home to the popular South Street Kitchen cafe, a convenience store and an upmarket furniture shop, but The Pearl will be its first bar since the ongoing redevelopment by partners Urban Splash and Places for People began.

The new bar, on Pat Midgley Lane, already has a licence, and will be permitted to open from midday to 11.30pm each day except on Sundays, when it must close by 10.30pm.

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Ronnie Aronica said: “We really want this to be a platform to showcase some of the suppliers we’ve worked with since opening Bench, such as Carlingford oysters, Cinderwood Market Garden and Curing Rebel’s charcuterie. Simple, beautiful ingredients and produce, treated well.”

Mark Latham, regeneration director at Urban Splash, added that The Pearl’s opening marked the ‘long-awaited return of a local to Park Hill’.

Related topics:Park HillSheffield