Qubana’s Exciting New £1M Investment To Transform Wakefield’s Restaurant And Nightlife Scene

Qubana restaurant in Wakefield which opened in October 2008 has always been a firm favourite amongst the city’s diners. A great place to go for a cocktail or two, to indulge in their large tapas selection with friends or to enjoy their live music nights. Outgrowing their Northgate venue, the owners now have much grander and exciting plans in store for Qubana that’s going to transform Wakefield’s restaurant and nightlife scene.
If you frequent Wakefield town centre then you may have noticed a lot of activity at the large and characterful old Barclay’s Bank on Wood Street, one of the city centre’s nicest streets. This is going to be the new home for Qubana.
Upon visiting we were absolutely blown away by the building, its grand décor and characterful features. The building itself has been a bank for as long as most people can remember, is a massive space, with its high ceilings and adjoining rooms. The owners purchased the property in June 2016 after it had stood empty for some time. Spending nearly £1M extensively restoring the building from top to bottom it has now been transformed.
         
         
There are a number of different areas to the building, all with their own unique offerings. Firstly there will be the main restaurant with its large leather booths, ornate lighting, huge restored windows and pillars, which will comfortably seat up to 120 diners. Next is the bar area named ‘Gin and Cocina’ (Spanish for kitchen), a new concept to Qubana where guests can sit and work at the bar with a coffee and their laptop during the day, visit to enjoy pintxos (small Spanish snacks) or to sample their range of 50+ gins. From tiled flooring, old school barber chairs and a copper topped bar, this stylish area is going to be the perfect place to relax and graze. Then there is not only one but two outside spaces, firstly extending the bar is an area behind the restaurant you can enjoy your ‘Gin and Cocina’ on the cobbles. This will join up the already popular Red and Elliot’s bar bringing this characterful street in Wakefield back to life. ‘La Terrazza’ which we can imagine will be the most popular summer drinking destination in Wakefield, this roof top space will have its own outside bar offering prosecco, cocktails, draft and bottled beers with table service. Now onto ‘The Vault’, the perfect private dining or meeting space, complete with the old bank vault doors. If this wasn’t enough for this new fantastic development you can also expect some very exciting plans for the basement coming in the next 6-12 months, which will again bring a completely new concept to the city.
For those of you who are not familiar with Qubana restaurant their influences range from Cuba, Spain and South America, so expect tapas and small plates using locally sourced Yorkshire produce. There’s plenty of new and exciting dishes from ‘Hake Fish Tacos’, ‘Chorizo Lollipops’ and ‘Chargrilled 4oz Iberico Fillet,’ as well as familiar favourites the diners in Wakefield have come to know and love. Friday-Sunday Qubana will offer a weekend Brunch Menu, with South American staples ‘Huevos Rancheros’ chilli tomato stew, scrambled eggs and cheese wrapped in tortilla, to flat iron steak with fried eggs, plus the option to go bottomless with Bloody Marys and Mimosa cocktails.
    
     
Qubana is set to open its doors to the public on Saturday 4^th February 2017, with live music nights every Friday and Saturday. The re-development of the old bank and the expansion of Qubana will bring an extra 20-30 jobs to the city centre, the increased footfall of diners will also aim to support the surrounding restaurants and bars and also breathe new life into the cities dining and nightlife scene.
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