Bristol’s harbourside hub of independent businesses at Wapping Wharf is set to welcome a new Italian restaurant, while a record shop has closed.
New eatery Magari will serve a menu featuring pasta freshly made on site and locally sourced ingredients when it opens in CARGO 2 - a network of converted shipping containers - in April.
The business was founded by friends and co-owners, Gilda Lombardi and Delphi Ross. Ms Lombardi moved to Bristol from Italy two years ago. She met Ms Ross during lockdown when she was giving Ms Lombardi’s children English lessons before they started school.
Ms Lombardi’s family run a cookery school in Rome while Ms Ross has worked in the hospitality trade for 10 years.
Ms Lombardi said: "Food is a huge part of our culture in Italy and because of my background I was really born into cooking so opening Magari feels very natural to me. We really want to bring together and celebrate Italy's dynamic food culture and the amazing local produce that is grown and made in the South West."
Ms Ross added: “For Italians, food is a communal activity that brings everyone together with love and laughter and we want a night out at Magari to have that same effect. Wapping Wharf has such a great community atmosphere that it makes perfect sense for us to open here."
Stuart Hatton, managing director at Umberslade, the developer behind Wapping Wharf, welcomed Magari to the mixed-use site, saying it would “fit perfectly with our friendly neighbourhood ethos.”
Magari will be moving into a double unit at CARGO 2, half of which was formerly home to piemaker and bar Buxton & Bird.
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The other half was previously occupied by vintage clothing boutique Something Elsie, which has now moved next door into the unit formerly occupied by Longwell Records.
The record shop, which opened a second outlet in Wapping Wharf in the first half of last year, has now closed in CARGO 2 to focus on its flagship shop in Keynsham.
In a post on the businesses social media profiles, Longwell Records owner Iain Aitchison, wrote: “Massive thank you to everyone who supported us at the Wapping Wharf Shop. I made some great friends down CARGO 2.
“I will really miss those sun drenched days having fun with the amazing community that Stuart Hatton and Esme Hatton have made down there.”
Massive thank you to everyone who supported us at Wapping Wharf Shop I made some great friends down Cargo 2 I will really miss those sun drenched days having fun with the amazing community that umberslade come visit us at 36 Temple st Keynsham x
— Longwell Records (@LongwellRecords)
Wapping Wharf is home to more than 40 businesses by Bristol’s historic harbour, with local bakery Bakers & Co also among its recent arrivals. The site supports around 250 to 300 full and part-time jobs in the city’s retail and hospitality sectors.
Work is underway to convert a derelict warehouse on the site - the former factory of chocolate manufacturer J and S Fry - into 20,000 sq ft of office space for up to 230 people.
As well as an expanding business community, Wapping Wharf also comprises 450 homes, with that number set to rise to 600 when the neighbourhood’s current phase of development is completed.
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