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THE RESTAURANT WAS SET TO REOPEN AT A NEW SITE IN THE WINTER 15:57, 20 May 2025 An award-winning Iberian restaurant which was due to reopen in a new site during the winter has confirmed the

move is nearing completion. Pilgrim, which won the BBC show_ Million Pound Menu_, hosted by Fred Siriex, was formerly situated in Duke Street Market. During its time there, it was

well-received by critics and was awarded the Michelin Guide's Bib Gourmand, a rating that recognises friendly establishments that serve good food at moderate prices. Pilgrim was known

for its ever-changing á la carte menu of peak-season vegetables and traditional Iberian cuisine as well as sustainably sourced meat and fish, all cooked over wood charcoal on a huge

centrepiece live-fire hearth, inspired by the routes of the Camino de Santiago. After four years lying dormant, the restaurant was set to return in the winter, this time on Allerton Road -

but the reopening has yet to take place. However, the business has confirmed to the ECHO that it will still be coming to Allerton, with the restaurant "nearing completion with an

opening date to be released imminently". Last autumn, Pilgrim's founder Jamie Duffield and head chef Jack Williams sat down with the ECHO. Speaking about where the idea for Pilgrim

came from, Jamie said: “The idea for Pilgrim came around in about 2017 when I walked the Camino de Santiago. "It was at a time when I’d been working at London restaurants and wanted to

do my own thing. I’d taken a month out to think about what I wanted that to be and a couple of weeks in, I thought the food of the Camino de Santiago would be a great concept for a Spanish

restaurant as you’re travelling through many regions of Spain which a lot of people never really get to see and the food you’re exposed to along the way is a lot more varied than most people

are exposed to when they think of Spanish cuisine. “When I came back home, I set up a few supper clubs and pop-ups in Dalston, London, where I was at the time, and that sort of evolved; we

did that for the best part of a year and we were due to go into a six month residency there which fell through - at that point, funding had started to run out a bit." Article continues

below It was at this point Jamie said a PR company they were working with suggested that they go on the BBC's Million Pound Menu and, following that, they were offered a site in

Liverpool in Duke Street Market, which opened in 2018. Jamie added: “During the two years we were at Duke Street Market, we got the Michelin Bib Gourmand. It was all going well and we were

sort of at a stage where we’d outgrown Duke Street Market a little bit and wanted to find our own space. We found another site, also on Duke Street, and negotiated that for six months but it

fell through. After that, we started looking for another site but a couple of months later, I was diagnosed with brain cancer." Talking about his battle with cancer, Jamie added: “I’d

gone to Barcelona for a festival and began getting headaches out there. I thought it was the heat or drinking a bit too much. When I came home, I was doing a little work outside and felt

very light headed - I had a sensation of falling over even though I was sitting down. I went to hospital, they did some scans and I found out I had a tumour. It was pretty terrifying. “Soon

I was having brain surgery and then, after getting an infection, I had to have another surgery which involved removing part of my skull. Then, a year later, I had to have a third surgery to

replace that piece of skull. “I was pretty heavily medicated for a while so there was an extended recovery period, but as soon as I came off the meds and got the all-clear, I felt a lot

better for that. I’m still improving but it feels good to be back - and it feels good to feel capable of being back because, during my recovery, I did question whether I’d have the capacity

to do this again." Talking about what guests can expect from the next incarnation of Pilgrim, head chef Jack said: “We want a few things on a plate - nothing too fancy, nothing too fine

dining, a lot more relaxed. We want to focus more on the quality of the produce than what we are doing to it, and not have a big team constantly placing things on a plate really delicately.

It’s about doing nice food which is accessible. “A lot of people don’t realise that a lot of Spanish food isn’t just patatas bravas or fried calamari; they use all sorts of different parts

of the pig and all sorts of hams and shellfish which people have never heard of. “The menu will be short and ever-changing so we don’t have to stick to the same thing constantly. We want to

be using a lot of British meat instead of importing Spanish ones so we can use local produce while using the same ideas as the Spanish." Article continues below Jamie added: "When

we were in Duke Street, I found it quite frustrating that we felt pressure to put dishes on the menu which we knew were going to be popular because we had to turn it over. But I think, with

something this size, we can just do what we want to do and not feel like we have that constant pressure to be popular. “Allerton Road, with the butcher, the baker, the fishmonger and all the

different venues, it feels like it’s on the verge of something happening here."