You started in 2018 as a pop-up. What were those early days like and when did you make the decision to find a permanent home?

Pretty wild, casting my mind back. From taking over Testone Factory in Kelham Island, to hosting at Swallows & Damsons flower shop and Steam Yard Café, the Bench pop-up was all about collaborating with some of our favourite independent businesses in the city. With an ethos focused on communal dining and blurring the divide between kitchen and bar. It was after these sold out instantly – it was time we found a place we could call home. 

How did you and Ronnie meet?

We met at Public, I was the general manager and Ron was the head chef (insert Joey and Chandler gif). 

Was Nether Edge always going to be your first home (if so, why)?

We looked at a few of the bustling areas at the time, Kelham, Abbeydale, and Chesterfield Road but they didn’t seem right. 

Our strategy was always to be a neighbourhood restaurant and providing for the little pocket the restaurant was located, we found a place in Nether Edge and the leafy suburb was the perfect spot. 

However, we actually opened during COVID, so as it did with everyone – it forced us to pivot. We provided cook at home boxes, takeaways and a range of bottled cocktails. This actually embedded us into the neighbourhood and these people still dine with us most mid-weeks. The weekend we become a little more declinational – providing for Sheffield and beyond.

And then came The Pearl & Bench La Cave – did that offer something completely different?

The Pearl at Park Hill, which we opened in September of 2023, is our second venue and our interpretation of what a ‘local’ in the 21st century should be. Serving up a seasonal, ever-changing cocktail menu, craft beer and natural wines alongside bar food. We wanted to create ‘a local’ can be for anyone and everyone not just people into cocktails or Bench’s food, for example.

Bench La Cave, is our bakery by day and wine bar by night. Our focus here was to showcase all house made baked goods and bread in the day and become a wine bar – wine shop by night. The transition from day to night, the lights get turned down, the music goes loud and the drinks turn from coffees to wines by the glass. It’s feels like a snug little cave and we wanted it to be a more relaxed party vibe to the one you may experience at Bench. 

Tell us about the concept – I gather it is inspired by Ronnie’s Sicilian heritage?

Maria: A restaurant that’s an homage to Tom’s (my business partner’s) heritage, named after his grandmother and inspired by Italian trattorias and southern European cooking. Typical Italian hospitality, Maria will be a restaurant that has equal focus on the drinks programme alongside the food. Serving up our favourite aperitvo, think Harrys bar Bellinis and Camparino Americanos, digestive cocktails will be a platform showcase our creativity and a ‘Super Size Me’ amaro list that any trattoria in Italy would be proud of – OH…and not forgetting £5 negronis – all day – everyday!

I imagine there’ll be a great wine list too?

It’s left in the very safe hands of our wine director Kelly. A who’s who of Italian wines, if I was to give anything away…

When do you expect to be open?

Spring 2026 – all details to be revelaed very soon.

It’s in a great location; what are your impressions of the heart of the city development?

We’ve had this concept for a year or two now, and it’s great to finally find a place for it in Sheffield city centre. The council have done an amazing job with the ‘Heart of City’ development — we love to see the centre beginning to thrive again. We’re in good company alongside friends Leah’s Yard, Cambridge Street Collective, Marmadukes, and Kapital, and are really excited to be part of this little pocket of independents.

And what about Sheffield’s dining scene in general?

Sheffield is an unusual city. Big, storied, proud of its music, with magnificent suburbs – on the doorstep of the Peak District. But it keeps itself to itself, especially in terms of food and drink. ‘The Madagascar of the North’. External operators bypass Sheffield to other M62 destinations but that is to our advantage. Sheffield is proud of its independents and because of that it has evolved over the last ten years or so. As good venues open, Picture House Social, Public and Jöro to name a few, it’s only natural that employees will leave and go open their own place – as me and Ron did. This is all to Sheffield’s gain, growing the cities scene year on year. 

Any future plans or do you have enough on your plate for now?!

The ‘plate’s’ half full…