We are opening a new café-bar-restaurant-venue on Lerwick’s Commercial Street. The two level building has operated as a café for the best part of 20 years, and we intend to give it a new look and operating ethos that is distinctive from other outlets currently available in Lerwick.

Our food menus will place a strong emphasis on local produce including fresh seafood and a good choice of vegetarian and vegan options. Akshay Borges of Borges Seafood, who was a chef at the award-winning Scalloway Hotel for several years, will be in charge of the kitchen. He will be joined by Matthew Adam, who has many years of kitchen experience, most recently at the popular Peerie Shop café.

Our bar will offer a wide range of craft beers, fine wines and spirits, and will be run by Magnus Stout, who has many years’ experience in Glasgow pubs and was duty manager in the café-bar at Mareel.

Akshay, Matthew and Magnus can all draw on good working relationships with a range of local wholesalers and suppliers, while we are also looking to establish new tie-ins with craft brewers and artisan coffee suppliers to raise the standard of refreshments available.

The second floor of the café-bar will be used to host a programme of cultural events including regular live music in the form of informal sessions and small-scale concerts featuring local and visiting artists. This will be programmed by Neil Riddell, who has established a strong reputation as a promoter of roots music in the islands through the non-profit Ragged Wood community group.

The upstairs area will be available for private hire and will also be used to stage special food sittings throughout the calendar, including taster menus based on the bountiful qualities of fresh seafood available locally.

We want The String to be a family-friendly venue where people can feel at home enjoying lunch or a pastry and a cup of coffee in the daytime, and a relaxed drink or dinner in the evenings. We will be seeking to capitalise on the growing number of cruise ship passengers and other tourists visiting the islands in the summer months, but also want to establish the venue as a social gathering place for Shetland’s thriving creative community.

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