Newcastle restaurant opens its doors with funding from Barclays.
Sky Chinese Cuisine Limited based in Stowell Street, the heart of Newcastle's China town area, has opened its doors providing over 200 covers for diners in the former King Fu School.
Steve Chan, who has over 20 years' experience in other successful restaurants locally, has used the new Government-backed 'Funding For Lending' scheme to launch the new restaurant, and in doing so has received a 2% cash-back lump sum from Barclays.
Steve Chan, owner of Sky Chinese Cuisine Ltd said: "We pride ourselves on the customer experience we offer at Sky Chinese Cuisine and the new venture has created 25 jobs locally and we have brought in a chef from Hong Kong to deliver authentic, quality food. We've been open for a couple of weeks now and we've had an amazing response from customers who are quickly spreading the word. The timing of this investment could not have been better and the cash-back payment from Barclays will provide a buffer to help manage finances over the quieter winter months in the New Year."
The new restaurant, located on the upper floor, has been completely refurbished at a cost of £600,000 and benefits from views of Newcastle's Skyline.
Martin Griggs, Relationship Manager, Business Banking at Barclays said: "By participating in the Government-backed 'Funding For Lending' scheme, Barclays is able to pass on the whole benefit we derive to our customers and we are optimistic that people will take advantage of this cheap time to borrow, and make the investment decisions that they have been putting off."
Barclays hopes that Funding for Lending will create one of the most competitive loan markets in recent history and expects the UK's leading banks to offer different cheaper lending products which will help fuel demand and competition.
Barclays will actively manage its product offerings to respond to these market changes and will introduce new ways of channelling the benefit of Funding for Lending to our customers.