Newcastle's St James' Stack shipping container unveils its latest foodie signings

Newcastle’s newest signings have been unveiled – and they’re a tasty bunch gearing up for kick-off.

St. James’ Stack is currently taking shape at Strawberry Place in a unique partnership between leisure company Stack and Newcastle United. And now the container drinking and dining destination has unveiled its team sheet of traders who will be in place when it opens.

The line up includes a mix of original Stack traders, new operators and some well known, North East restaurateurs. Among those opening for the first time will be Tiptop, featuring a range of Asian inspired noodle and rice dishes launched by Kevin Liu, who has owned numerous restaurants around the city and beyond for many years. He said: “We’re very excited at going into Stack because we believe it will be a huge success.”

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Other newcomers include Soju & Gogi, who currently run a Korean BBQ restaurant at Dean Street and Soju & Gogi Express in Newcastle’s Grainger Market. The company also has a sister restaurant - Insa Korean BBQ in Jesmond - and will be bringing dishes such as Korean fried chicken, corn dogs and BBQ wraps.

Dabbawal, which runs successful restaurants in High Bridge in the city centre and the other at Jesmond, recently expanded into Gateshead’s HWKR market and will now be bringing their Indian street food to Stack. And making a welcome return is Acropolis, who first launched at the original Stack Newcastle and have since gone on to expand across the North East and further afield.

The street food vendor now operates ten venues in Newcastle and beyond, with a permanent base at Stack Seaburn and new sites at Stack Lincoln and Aberdeen. Barbecue specialist Texas Smoker – a regular on the festival circuit serving smoked meats and wings – will now be able to offer their dishes all year round from the new shipping container hub, and regulars to Stack Seaburn will recognise names including smash burger and loaded fries expert Brack Burger, which has a number of outlets across Tyneside.

The list of foodie firms is rounded off by Davey’s Mexicano, which sells everything from loaded nachos to Birria beef tacos, Bao Down with their bao buns, gyozas, loaded fries and vegan dishes, ZZA Pizzeria, and Holy Duck, whose crispy duck loaded fries and wraps have proved extremely populat at Stack Seaburn and the recently opened Stack Lincoln.

St. James’ Stack presented by Sela will also serve up coffees and other hot drinks, toasties and breakfast butties from Yolo Coffee & Kitchen. The transformation of the St. James’ Metro Station car park is now well under way to create the fanzone and all-round street food and entertainment venue out of repurposed shipping containers, with an opening date set to announced for this summer.

Gemma Dishman, project development director, said: “We think this lineup offers not only great tasting food but quality operators who will attract their own fans. We are especially excited to have some well-known restaurants join us with their own twist on street food.”

Neill Winch, CEO of Stack, added: “We have been inundated with applications from interested traders who wished to take a unit and therefore only a select few were shortlisted to take part. We pride ourselves on being loyal to existing and past traders so it’s great to see a number of them coming back to Stack.

“However we are always looking for good quality street food offerings that will delight our customers and offer a really eclectic and exciting mix of food and that is certainly the case with these new STACK traders who are well known on the restaurant scene. The food offering when coupled with the bars and the live entertainment programme Stack is renowned for will make St. James’ Stack presented by Sela and amazing place to visit at any time of the week.”

Darren Eales, CEO of Newcastle United, added: “We are thrilled to hear that Stack’s reputation and expertise has attracted such a vibrant mix of traders that will collectively create a truly unique social hub here in the city. It is exciting to see the vision continue to come to life as we progress through each phase of development, with an incredible lineup of food venders unveiled this week. As many have roots across the North East, it is a real bonus that we can provide an opportunity for those businesses to expand and grow their operations locally.

“We are privileged to work alongside Stack in the development of a venue that will suit varying tastes of food and entertainment.”