Mr Usher has opened Pinion thanks to a record-breaking £50,000 crowdfunding effort and the opening night at the Eccleston Street venue was a sell-out

Gary Usher’s fifth restaurant, Pinion, has now opened in Prescot with a VIP launch event following a successful, record-breaking crowdfunding campaign, which raised £50,000 in less than an hour.

Four months since chef entrepreneur, Gary and his team launched their fourth crowdfunding campaign to raise £50,000 to open a bistro on Prescot’s high street, a sold-out, ticketed launch event took place for crowdfunding pledgees, friends, family and VIPs.

Click here to watch a video of the launch night

Guests enjoyed samples from the Pinion menu, including: beef featherblade croquette, pickled walnut, squash arincini, mozzarella, tomato and gordal olive, crispy duck heart tarragon mayonnaise, white chicory, Stilton, walnut and apple, cured mackerel, pickled cucumber and roasted beetroot and fresh cream profiterole, salted caramel.

Queuing up

Gary Usher said: “The response we have received to Pinion has been completely humbling. As soon as I first visited the site and met some of the locals, I knew that we had to open a restaurant here and the feedback since has been incredible from both Prescot and further afield.

“Even when we were finishing off the build, we had people queuing up to see the menu or offer their help and when we opened reservations, we received over 500 bookings in the first afternoon.”

Gary was initially drawn to Prescot through recent efforts by the community and Knowsley Council initiatives to raise the profile of the town and regenerate the high street.

Fifth venue

Pinion, named as a nod to the town’s watchmaking history, is the fifth restaurant in the ‘Elite Bistro’s of the World’ group and features the other restaurant’s signature ‘laid back, bistro style’ on Eccleston Street in the town centre.

Cllr Tony Brennan, Knowsley Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, added: “Pinion is the first new restaurant to open on Eccleston Street in around 30 years and there has been a lot of excitement around it.

“Prescot already has a number of great places to eat and drink and Pinion along with the other new bars and restaurants are enhancing this offer and helping to attract even more people into Prescot, making it a place that people want to visit and spend time.”