A popular Italian restaurant in Liverpool city centre will close its doors for 12 weeks from January for a £3.5m makeover. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool Italian restaurant San Carlo will close for 12 weeks from January as it undergoes a £3.5m transformation.

Part of the San Carlo Restaurant Group, the venue opened in Castle Street in 2009. Since then it has been a consistently popular venue for city centre diners. It is a favourite of both business people and celebrities.

Once the busy festive season is over the restaurant will close its doors on January 2, 2023, and reopen in the spring, around 12 weeks later. An exact date for the relaunch has yet to be announced.

Owners the Distefano family say the current black and red interiors will be replaced by “more modern surroundings that ooze opulence and sophistication, taking aesthetic inspiration from beautiful settings of Italy”.

This project will involve stripping out the entire interior of the venue, altering the layout, adding a brand new private dining room and completely changing the look and feel of the space.

Its interior will take inspiration from grand Milanese villas and gardens with a colour palette that draws inspiration from the coastline of Northern Italy.

Bespoke fresco artwork by LA-based artist Jessalyn Brooks will adorn the walls. The interior includes details and finishes reminiscent of classic Italian mid-century furniture.

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Managing director Marcello Distefano said: “Our Liverpool venue has held a special place within our group. The city has been so good to us over the years.We’ve built up an incredibly local customer base of city dwellers, tourists, famous faces and sport stars.

“We are very excited that Liverpool will be the first of our new look San Carlo Restaurants. Our much-loved venue will undergo a complete facelift, transforming the aesthetic into the most breathtakingly beautiful modern setting.”

San Carlo Restaurant Group has 24 restaurants in London, Manchester, including an outlet at Manchester Airport’s new Terminal 2.

Other locations are Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Leicester along with Qatar, Riyadh, Bahrain and Bangkok, with Dubai and Miami opening soon. The portfolio also includes Alto by San Carlo at the rooftop, Selfridges, London, Signor Sassi Knightsbridge and Cicchetti Piccadilly.