Tribeca: Pizza bar and restaurant to open in former Mix and Astoria building

Kyle Ellis wants to bring a taste of New York to the town after securing the keys to the St James’ Row building previously home to The Mix and Italian restaurant Astoria.

Tribeca, which is currently scheduled to open at the end of March, will feature a pizza restaurant on the ground floor and a bar upstairs.

"We've always had plans to open a second place, a sort of spin-off venue to Ellis’s,” said Kyle. “And I saw the opportunity there with the old Astoria building. It's a gorgeous building, and I thought now was the time to go for it.

"Ellis’s will be staying exactly as it is. We’re opening Tribeca as its own thing. It’s going to have that Ellis’ vibe and signature, but with pizzas instead of burgers. So, loaded pizzas, cocktails; the restaurant will be downstairs, and then there will be a bar upstairs, with pool, shuffleboards, Sky Sports, and other things like that.”

Astoria closed exactly one year ago, but despite the premises sitting empty since then, Kyle said the building didn’t require too much work.

"We’re just sort of making it look the part. Obviously, it was Astoria previously, which was a tapas place, and that had a bit of a different vibe than what we’re going for. It’s just decoration really; a lot of the stuff that we need is already there. The building itself is set-up perfectly; it’s a well-known venue in Burnley that has been around for a while – so we’re just in there putting our stamp on it. We’re currently working towards opening at the end of March, if everything goes to plan.”

The name Tribeca – a region in New York – is a nod to the style of pizzas Kyle and his team will be creating, but also has a family connection.

"We used to have an auntie who had an apartment in New York so I grew up going to New York quite a bit. It’s somewhere that means a lot to me and my family.”

Kyle relocated Ellis’s – which started out life as a milkshake bar a decade ago – from Standish Street to the old “Brun Lea” Wetherspoons premises in Manchester Road in 2022. He says he is proud to be opening a second venue in the town, and believes Burnley is very much a place on the up.

“I've always been very vocal about being passionate for Burnley. It's where I’m from. It’s the only place I really want to do business. I think there's quite a bit of resurgence in Burnley as well at the minute. There's a lot of good things happening, so I’m proud to be a part of that.”