Can someone tell me where Mr Kytes (Casablanca) has gone ?

I used to love going there, but I can't find it anymore :confused:

Dio you know Sinclairs on West Street?
Well Sinclairs is on a corner with another road (sorry dont know its name) but its up there towards Jessops.

Nomme

I didn't quite catch your post. Please clarify

Originally posted by FAITHLESS
I didn't quite catch your post. Please clarify

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?X=434500&Y=387500&width=500&height=300&client=public&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&scale=10000&advanced=&multimap.x=271&multimap.y=270

Its either on victoria street or regents terrace - which ever one of of those is on the corner with the shop Sinclairs on Glossop Road.


Nomme

It's on Victoria Street. If you are coming up/down West Street then keep and eye out for the Lounge Bar and a shop called Sinclairs - it's up the street that goes between them.

And its no where near as good as it used to be when it was down on Division St.

It's now in the purple-painted buildings on the road off West St. with Boots chemist on the corner.

At the moment it's primarily a restaurant, although they're planning to expand to the next-door building so they have enough space to return to their former glory.

Still worth a visit anyway :)

Originally posted by martynj
It's now in the purple-painted buildings on the road off West St. with Boots chemist on the corner.
No it's not - that's Regent Street.

Check my instructions above ;)

Originally posted by Geoff
No it's not - that's Regent Street.


Oh, I stand corrected :)

Tis definitely in a purple building anyway - I went there last Saturday. I think there's an advertising stand for it on the corner with West St.

Do many people rate this restaurant/bistro. I like it does anyone agree?

I would like it more if they hadn't been so "shirty" when I told them about the forum :P If anyone knows someone that works there then please tell them to check out the site, I tried and failed.

Goeff

Why what did they say? did they not want to advertise on the Forum?

It was a while ago, just after they moved in. I popped in and said that if they were looking to tell their old customers about the new address then the forum might be a good, free, place to do so.

I like the place and the people, and look forward to seeing it regain some of it's former character (and size). Their response to the Forum suggestion does seem like shooting themselves in the foot, though...

I went to Mr Kytes in the new site on Regent Terrace a few weeks ago and had a good night and they seemed to be doing well. Went again on Wed 29th October and it was in darkness. No notices, no prices. It looked a bit terminal.

Originally posted by Geoff
It was a while ago, just after they moved in. I popped in and said that if they were looking to tell their old customers about the new address then the forum might be a good, free, place to do so.

It was always a funny place - trying so hard to be bohemian that it didnt have many customers in latter years on Devonshire Green. Mind you, they kept getting the kitchen closed down by the environmental health, so maybe that's got something to do with it too.

So what's happened now? All the signs have been removed and replaced with a single sign saying "Regent's Terrace". Did they move out and sell to someone else? Or is this a re-branding exercise? Anyone here a customer or know the owners?

Roy has retired I hear. Dunno what is in the pipeline for the place.

went for a meal on saturday. very different to when it was mr kites. nice food though!

Does anyone know the full truth of the whole thing when Casablanca's moved? I recall seeing signs in their windows saying that they were being forced to move premesis due to the fact that their landlords wanted to redevelop the entire block and as a result they would be moving to their current location.

After the old premesis closed down, I was worried to see it reopen soon afterwards as "The Green Room" with much the same layout and mission statement as Casablanca's. An article in the Star suggested that the place was being run by the son of the landlord and that they had stepped in to keep the place open as a bistro when the previous tennants refused to stay and moved on.

What is the truth of the demise of the best bistro in town?

From what I heard, the owner of the building on Devonshire St (who is also the owner of The Grapes and the Dog&Partridge on Trippet Lane) wanted to use the building herself. Naturally enough, she'd seen how the whole area around Devonshire Green had improved and become trendy, and thought that she should get the maximum benefit from her building.

So she served notice on the old owners of Casablanca, but they objected. After 3 years in court, she won and Casablanca had to go. She then opened up the Green Room, while Casablanca/Mr Kite's moved to Regent Terrace, where El Sombrero used to be.

Mr Kite's was then bought out and the owner retired. The place has changed its name to Regent Terrace and it's a proper restaurant now, rather than a bar/bistro. I haven't eaten there yet but it's had very good reviews. They're planning big changes, and they're doubling the size of it by knocking through to next door. That's going to be a bar, and then upstairs they're opening a conference room which will double as a part time art gallery for travelling exhibitions.

So there you have it.

Originally posted by hounsfieldjr


They're planning big changes, and they're doubling the size of it by knocking through to next door. That's going to be a bar, and then upstairs they're opening a conference room which will double as a part time art gallery for travelling exhibitions.


Knocking through next door? Do you know if that's uphill or downhill? Cos uphill is the building that my band (and many others) currently use for rehearsals (it's called the Collective).

In fact I've not been in Regent Terrace - can you actually hear the bands practising from in there? I'd be surprised if you can't.

Downhill.

I couldn't say if you can be heard because I've never been in either!

Shame, seems that someone else has lost out to capitalist averice. I suppose that in the end the owner of the buildings won the court case and thus has the law on their side to do with the building as they choose. The whole affair just seems more than a little cynical to my mind and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth...

I guess that this means I'll have to treasure my memories of afternoons spent in the old place reading and drinking far too much coffee as well as the nights listening to the jazz trio and drinking far too much red wine...wait a minute, you can never have too much red wine.

I don't think that I'll be patronising the Green Room, the fact is that it's just not Casablanca's and it never will be.

Umm... I think that what you term as "capitalist avarice" was actually that because the lease ran out, and the people who owned the building, who also own a couple of other bars wanted to do their own thing. I see nothing wrong with that.

Did you think that Mr Kites was some sort of social co-operative?

My own opinion is that Mr Kites was ok in the 1980's / early 90's when there was nothing like it, but they never moved on. It was too easy for customers to feel uncomfortable (as in not in the clique) and the kitchen was closed down far too many times by the environmental health dpt.

Things have to move on - do you want to drive a Hillman Avenger too? The Green Room isnt to my taste, but neither was Kites / Casablanca in recent years.

Look at it this way, if you ran a business in a rented property and made a tidy profit for a good few years and were never short of customers, then one day the landlord told you the lease was up and you were out on your ear...that would be one thing.

But if the landlord then started running a carbon copy of your sucessful business in the same premesis while you were out on your ear, don't you think there might be a hint of sour grapes?

I never suggested that the landlords were doing anything that they didn't have a right to do under the law of the land, I just think that reopening the place as a clone of Casablanca's rather than soemthing new and hip that might have fitted in better with the new image of the Devonshire Street area might have been a bit more appropriate.

I don't think that being aware of the cynical rebranding of a popular bistro is suggesting that the place was a co-operative! If the place was not to your taste then that's your choice as an individual. But I for one have seen the places that I used to enjoy spending time and money patronsing vanish over the past few years in the city centre to be replaced with the new, but not the superior.

You really have lost me with your last post. I don't see how "The Green Room" is anything like a carbon copy of Kites / Casablanca's. The only similarity that I can detect is that they are both bars, and inhabit the same building. Apart from that, I see no similarity in the style of business at all.

The Green Room is a Bistro/Restaurant that looks a great deal like Casablanca's did before the landlord refused to renew the tennant's contract.

Maybe carbon copy is a little strong on reflection, but the fact is that the guys who ran the latter were given no choice but to leave by the people now running the former.

As a person who enjoyed Casablanca's I'm a biased, but I remember reading a story about the place in the Star where the new man in charge claimed to have stepped in to keep the place open as a bistro/restaurant when the previous tennants had refused to stay.

When you consider that they were given no choice in the matter, the new establishment insinuating that they did and that they saved the day for the customers sticks in my craw more than a little.

How is a bar / bistro similar? That describes virtually every bar in town these days.

You have to admit that they didn't make much of an effort to radically alter the layout of the place or change the fare on offer.

Change the name and remove the movie memorabilia and hey presto you have the Green Room.

Do you mean that unless they knock down walls it's a rip off?

To be fair, and not wishing to interrupt a private debate, they are VERY similar!! And I speak as an infrequent visitor to both.

Nah, just that it's pretty much the same place with a change of name.

Maybe I just notice the detail more than most.:D :P

On a related note, I drove past the Regent Terrace restaurant / bar that's replaced the new Casablanca (this is confusing :)) and it looked rather empty. I can't see how anyone will survive for long in that location. It's a shame, because it looks like they have tried very hard. Must go and try them out and show some support sometime very soon.

Originally posted by Carmine
Nah, just that it's pretty much the same place with a change of name.

? ? ? ? ? I’m confused :-/

You also said in a previous post

Originally posted by Carmine
don't think that I'll be patronising the Green Room


You seem to know quite a lot about a place you will not be "patronising".

The Green Room is not like Mr Kites/Casablanca, it hasn’t got the same "mission statement" as you stated earlier. It is a COMPLETELY different bar, and certainly is not a bistro.

Phew, so it's not just me. I thought that I had missed the point. :D

To be honest, I thought that Mr Kites / Casablanca had become a total dump in the last few years.

The Green Room isn't a dump, but I dislike it equally, and judging by the number of people in it when I made a few visits, that's what other peple think too. It's totally bereft of any atmosphere. I'm awaiting the arrival of a DJ - which will totally screw it up!

Originally posted by Tony
Phew, so it's not just me. I thought that I had missed the point. :D

To be honest, I thought that Mr Kites / Casablanca had become a total dump in the last few years.

The Green Room isn't a dump, but I dislike it equally, and judging by the number of people in it when I made a few visits, that's what other peple think too. It's totally bereft of any atmosphere. I'm awaiting the arrival of a DJ - which will totally screw it up!

Wednesdays are really busy, and weekends are packed. Not sure when you've been going in. :-/

Maybe you should try Wednesday nights, it’s an acoustic night called “Broken Strings”, really popular. It ’ll show you what direction the place is going.
I know the die-hard Mr Kites/Casablanca veterans may not like it, but hey, things change. Most people dislike "change" , but people should move on, just like the Green Room has.

I went a couple of times when it first opened, and I didn't like it enough to go back again, so I'm glad that it's picked up. No doubt it's got better. I wish the Green Room luck.

I went to Mr Kytes/Casablanca about last November, on Regents Terrace, in the building that used to be Mexican Restaurant El Sombrero - a regular haunt of mine a few years ago.

They had some live jazz being played by Ralph Salt on piano and a sax player whose name I didn't get ( he was good though!)
The music was fine, the food and service were a bit under par, we didn't really feel like returning there. So its my guess that they decided to call it a day.
I heard that they'd had to move from the place that is now the Green because someone put up the rent and they refused to pay it. Don't know how true that is though.

I went with friends to Regents Terrace on Saturday (birthday bash) and as always it was superb. We discovered it by accident a few months ago and can't rate it highly enough. I'd recommend it to anyone, lunchtime or evening. One of the party on Saturday is a vegetarian and she was basically able to construct her own meal by picking and choosing from what was on the menu. (They did have an alternative veggie menu but making your own seemed more fun.) The staff are very friendly and it has a nice atmosphere. Only drawback is that I've never seen it really busy and I fear for its long-term future.