Restaurateur responds to regional growth with investment in St Ives

An established Cambridge restaurateur is looking to the future with the purchase of the freehold of a building in the market town of St Ives through BTG Eddisons, who acted as the agent in the sale.

Limoncello Restaurant & Delicatessen - which first opened on Cambridge’s Mill Road almost 30 years ago - is bringing its popular Italian cuisine and quality, authentically-sourced Italian foodstuffs to St Ives in setting up an additional operation at 7-9 Bridge Street, with an opening scheduled for this autumn.

The 2,224 sq ft building on Bridge Street gives a restaurant and sales area of 1,091 as ft at ground floor level. With tenanted, residential accommodation across two upper floors, BTG Eddisons advises that the freehold of the whole building was marketed for sale at a guide price of £395,000, but the final sale price is not disclosed.

Director of Limoncello, Luke Taylor, confirms that the purchase of the Bridge Street building freehold signals a confidence both in the food & beverage sector in the St Ives area now, as well as an eye on future investment values given the Greater Cambridge blueprint for economic growth and expansion beyond the traditional city boundaries of Cambridge.

He explains, “Having grown up around the St Ives area and operating a business in Cambridge, there is a growing confluence between the demographic profile of households in the two locations, fuelled by residential development expansion and the ongoing economic prosperity of the region. Both have been supported by much improved transport connectivity in the past decade.

“This region remains on central government’s radar for targeted support for even more development and growth. Businesses looking to the future are setting their sights on locations that benefit from, but are not restricted by, the conventional Cambridge locations.

“We’ve been looking to St Ives to set up a second Limoncello location for a while but needed to find the right building in the right location. In being so close to the river and the historic bridge, there’s becoming a definite ‘Bridge Street buzz’ with new operators setting up in this picturesque part of the town centre.

“We’re looking forward to adding to this revived St Ives vibe when we open in the autumn, once fit-out works - which are underway - complete.”

Matthew Hunt, who led BTG Eddisons’ agency in the sale of 7-9 Bridge Street, added, “Limoncello will, undoubtedly, be a great boost to St Ives town centre and profile.

“We are seeing a greater number of businesses looking to non-Cambridge locations, such as St Ives, in wanting to capture the positives of being in a transport corridor to Cambridge, the M11 and A14, but seeking affordability and potential for commercial growth in opportunities in satellite towns and the bigger villages in this district of the Cambridgeshire.”