Phoenix site is rising star
Glasgow restaurateur Mike Conyers has opened his second restaurant venture in the city, 78 St Vincent, in the restored Phoenix Assurance building, formerly a BCCI bank.
The 90-seat restaurant has been in progress since September 1994 and represents an investment of £300,000. It is one of the first of 100 buildings of architectural significance earmarked for refurbishment to mark Glasgow's year as City of Architecture and Design in 1999.
78 St Vincent is aimed at the value-for-money end of the market with a selection of fixed-price menus of what its owner calls Franco-Scottish food: peasant French food with some Scottish specialities such as haggis.
Lunches are priced at £6.95 for two courses and £8.95 for three, while dinner costs £9.95 for two courses and £12.95 for three.
Mr Conyers, who also owns D'Arcy's restaurant in Princes Square shopping centre, claims that in his first two weeks of trading he has exceeded targets by 50%.
He has already started looking for another suitable site elsewhere in Glasgow for a similar operation.
