WYLD to Open at Freight Island this September - A New Live-Fire Restaurant, Late-Night Cocktail Bar and Stage
WYLD will open at Freight Island Newcastle on Friday, 25th September, bringing a new live-fire restaurant and late-night destination to the heart of the city. Led by acclaimed North East chefs Executive Chef Nick Grieves and Senior Sous Chef Lawrence Norman, the new restaurant will combine exceptional regional produce, fire-led cooking and a relaxed, energetic approach to dining, alongside a cocktail bar and stage.
With a career spanning more than 14 years in some of the UK’s most celebrated kitchens, including The River Café and Fera at Claridge’s, Nick brings a wealth of experience to WYLD. He is the founder of Michelin-recognised restaurants The Patricia and Ophelia, and his approach to food is rooted in simplicity, seasonality and soul.
Joining Nick in the kitchen is Lawrence Norman, co-founder and Head Chef of Newcastle-based Asian-inspired SOKU and 2024 North East Chef of the Year. Lawrence has previously worked as chef at The renowned Patricia and Sous Chef at Michelin-starred Hjem, bringing experience across some of the region’s most respected kitchens. Through SOKU, he has developed a reputation for combining punchy Asian flavours with seasonal British produce, bringing a distinctive perspective to Newcastle’s food scene.
At WYLD, Nick and Lawrence will bring their complementary experience and shared focus on quality produce to a more dynamic setting, creating a restaurant built around generous cooking, seasonality and the theatre of live fire. The open kitchen will form part of the experience, with smoke, flame and embers adding flavour while bringing an energy to the room.
WYLD is designed to feel instinctive, energetic and a little unexpected. At its heart are four elements – food, drink, music and space – coming together to create somewhere guests can settle in and experience for the whole evening.
Live-Fire Cooking, Rooted in the North East
The menu will take a produce-led approach, with dishes designed to be generous and shared, with a focus on seasonal products from the North East. Live-fire cooking will play a central role throughout, with the flames bringing depth and character to final dishes.
Nick Grieves, Executive Chef at WYLD, said: “It’s great to be cooking in the North East again and to be part of this exciting new project, surrounded by a brilliant team and some great people. Freight Island offers something different in the city centre, and our restaurant will be a colourful, buzzing space with plenty going on around the food. Music has always been important to how I work. It’s always on in the kitchen and sets the pace for the team, so I’m excited to bring food, music and entertainment together at WYLD.”
The restaurant will champion producers from across the region, with meat, seafood, vegetables and other ingredients selected according to seasonality, quality and provenance. The approach will reflect Nick’s longstanding belief in keeping food simple, allowing exceptional ingredients to speak for themselves while using fire to bring depth and flavour.
Alongside the food, the cocktail bar is central to the WYLD experience. The drinks are carefully delivered, focusing on British spirits poured over perfectly cut ice. The wine list has been curated by award-winning, French-born sommelier Vanessa Stoltz, bringing her expertise and distinctive approach to WYLD’s drinks offering. Originally from Alsace, Vanessa moved to the UK in 2016 and has since established herself as one of the country’s prominent young figures in the wine trade. She has been named 22nd in the UK Top 100 Sommeliers list and previously ranked 9th on the Harpers Sommelier List, while her wine lists have received a Silver Star from Star Wine List and been shortlisted twice for the IWSC UK Wine List Award. A qualified Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, Vanessa brings a considered, characterful approach to the list, designed to complement WYLD’s produce-led, fire-focused cooking.
Stay for the Night
More than a restaurant. WYLD is a live-fire kitchen, late-night cocktail bar and stage. One space where the chefs work in full view, cocktails travel across the room and the performance can change the course of your night.
Thursdays offer a refined midweek soundtrack, with DJs and selectors creating an elevated atmosphere without overpowering the room. Opening-month resident DJ Lil’ Chris will bring a feel-good mix of soul, R&B, dancefloor classics and recognisable party anthems, with the wider Thursday programme moving through warm jazz, Brazilian, Latin, Balearic and groove-led sounds.
Fridays become R E V E L, taking guests seamlessly from dinner into drinks and late night. DJ Ken Masters will set the tone with Latin-tinged soul, funk, Brazilian flavours, house and groove-led selections, before live performances build the energy around the DJ. Vocalists including Remy CB, Marina Gears and April Soul will bring soulful live sets spanning R&B, blues, reggae and contemporary pop, while Vlada Sax, Tom Dixon and Ben Kindlan add live saxophone and percussion to create moments of elevation and movement as the evening develops.
Saturdays welcomes NOCTURNE noc-tur-ne, the week’s most theatrical experience. Hosted by Imogen Banks, whose traditional jazz sensibility is matched by her confidence as a compere, the programme will bring together DJs, live musicians and performance. Jason Holcomb & Castillo Nuevo will bring an energetic Afro-Cuban and Latin sound through trombone, keys and percussion, while selectors including Lady Annabella, DJ Will Caulker and DJ Lil’ Chris will shape the soundtrack from jazz, soul and rare groove through to more upbeat late-night selections. Adding the theatrical edge, House of Trixie Blue will bring contemporary burlesque, glamour and spectacle to the room.
Find out more about WYLD programming at www.wyldnewcastle.com.
Dan Morris, CEO of Freight Island, said: “WYLD is a hugely exciting step for us. The room is built for the whole night, not just dinner. It starts around the fire, with brilliant North East produce and cocktails, then evolves as the lights go down and the stage comes alive with DJs, live music, cabaret and performance. Nick is a chef with real character and instinct, and he has created a menu that feels completely at home in the space. With exceptional cocktails and wine alongside a constantly changing programme on stage, WYLD will offer Newcastle a night out unlike anything else in the city.”
WYLD will sit within Freight Island as a destination in its own right, offering a more considered restaurant experience within Newcastle’s newest neighbourhood. From the open kitchen and theatre of the flames to the sights, sounds and aromas that fill the room, every element has been designed to create a space that feels social, energetic and distinctly its own.
WYLD opens at Freight Island on Friday, 25th September. Opening hours are Thursday (5pm–11pm), Friday (5pm–1am), Saturday (12pm–1am), and Sunday (12pm–10pm).
Bookings are now open at www.wyldnewcastle.com. Sign up for the latest updates.
Follow @wyld_newcastle and @freightislandnewcastle.
