A top Bristol restaurant that faced an uncertain future during the pandemic has opened a new shop.
Wilson’s in Redland has launched the store in a former bakery on Chandos Road, just a few doors down from the restaurant, which features in the Michelin guide.
The new shop stocks homemade sourdough bread, bacon rolls, savoury pastries such as sausage rolls, terrines and salad leaves grown by the owners on a smallholding near Bristol.
It also sells hand churned butter made on the premises and serves a range of hot drinks to takeaway including Extract coffee roasted in St Werburgh’s.
The shop is housed in the old Redland Bakery, which closed when the company went into liquidation last year.
Interest was so high when the doors opened on Saturday that there were queues of around 50 people at one point.
Every loaf of bread and sausage roll sold out within the first couple of hours of opening, leaving a few latecomers disappointed but hungry to return the following morning.
Owner Jan Ostle was overwhelmed by the response and said: “I’d be lying if I said I was expecting the sheer volume of support we received from our beloved community.
“It was humbling to see and I’m incredibly grateful for our customers’ patience.”
Wilson’s restaurant was opened in 2016 by chef Jan his wife, Mary Wilson, who ploughed their life savings into their first venture. Prior to that, Jan worked in a number of top restaurants in London and also with celebrity chef Tom Kerridge in Marlow.
The small bistro was an instant hit with Bristol restaurant-goers and it attracted glowing reviews from national critics including Tom Parker Bowles and Jay Rayner.
Last year, Wilson’s was forced to launch a GoFundMe page when it was forced to close for lockdown.It received more than £6,000 in donations from supporters due to the financial uncertainty of closing suddenly.
The page stated "our restaurant is in grave danger of going under and our colleagues’ livelihoods are in doubt”.
During the first lockdown, Wilson’s gave away free takeaway food for local people and key workers to ensure the restaurant supplies didn’t go to waste.
The new Wilson’s shop is open Wednesday to Sunday and can be found at 18 Chandos Road, Redland.
