Smithdown Road's blend of students, young professionals and families is drawing new food and drink businesses to the area, with Nashville Cluck opening its latest venue at Penny Lane House this week.
The award-winning Liverpool chicken brand, recently named among the UK's best offerings according to Uber Eats, opened to the public on Thursday, October 29. It first launched in the Georgian Quarter in October 2022 with the aim of creating the "perfect" chicken burger.
Nashville Cluck expands to Smithdown
Director Khalid Yafai told the ECHO that demand from local customers helped convince the brand to move into the area. The 33-year-old, who lives in the city centre, said: "We've heard a lot of good things about Smithdown and the surrounding area. It's right next to Allerton Road, there are a lot of students around here, and we've had plenty of messages from people asking us to come to this area. So we thought, 'why not?'"
The new site, around two miles from the brand's existing Duke Street restaurant, will help split delivery orders between the two locations and reduce waiting times. Yafai added: "The main reason for expanding within a two-mile radius is our waiting times. We've had a lot of complaints, and we've listened. Over the weekends, the wait can be over an hour, but that's because all our food is fresh and cooked to order."
Nashville Cluck now operates across Merseyside, including at the Baltic Market, Townfield Lane in Wirral, Concert Square and Duke Street. At one point, it served more burgers than McDonald's on Uber Eats.
Desserts by Dre joins the site
Nashville Cluck will share the Penny Lane House site with Desserts by Dre, giving customers the option to pair their chicken burgers with homemade sweet treats. Owner Andre Carrington will continue operating from his original dessert shop on Penny Lane, but said the new venture would allow him to explore a more indulgent menu, including cereal milk milkshakes, churro-style waffles and deep-fried cheesecake.
Carrington told the ECHO: "I think Smithdown Road has been plagued by a lot of takeaway-style places that don't focus on quality. I think you can have quality and takeaway together. There's a massive student base here, as well as young professionals and families, who I think can benefit from a good-quality takeaway treat."
Solace offers a different dining concept
While Nashville Cluck and Desserts by Dre focus on takeaway food and late-night treats, Solace, a restaurant founded by friends-turned-business partners Tasha Hough, Eugen Raka and Mark Lavelle, has chosen south Liverpool for a concept that moves throughout the day.
Tasha, 31, from Wavertree, told the ECHO: "We never opened with the intention of making money from it. We opened with the intention of creating a place where we could all be together and be part of the community we love. We're all from south Liverpool, so we knew we wanted to really embed ourselves in this community.
"We looked at a few different areas before finding here, and we could immediately see the potential of this site and what we could bring to it. We want to create something you might not normally find in a residential neighbourhood, something you'd usually have to go into the city centre for. A lot of people our age don't necessarily want to go into town anymore and for us, this is simply where we feel at home."
