£2.5 million Chocolate Harbour complex to open in Bristol next year
A MAJOR new attraction based around Bristol's chocolate heritage is to open on the Harbourside by next summer.
The £2.5 million Chocolate Harbour complex will include a visitor centre, shop and a high quality restaurant and is planned for the building which was occupied by the Chicago Rock bar.
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Harbour attraction will tell story of Bristol's confectionery trade
The visitor centre is the brainchild of Clifton-based entrepreneur Laurence Trackman and is part of the drive to breathe new life into the Harbourside area.
Mr Trackman has already signed a deal to
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convert the 8,000 square foot building next door to the Watershed subject to raising the investment needed.
The businessman has also been talking to Destination Bristol and the city council about the project for several months.
Even though chocolate is no longer made in Bristol, the city has an association with the UK's favourite treat stretching back to 1847.
Until Joseph Fry invented the chocolate-making process in his Bristol shop, people either drank cocoa with hot milk or used it as an ingredient in cooking food.
This year, the closure of Cadbury's Somerdale factory in Keynsham marked the end of chocolate production in the city.
Mr Trackman said: "It is an absolute tragedy that Kraft have decided to close the Cadbury factory, and it is important that the links with the industry are maintained.
"Bristol is where solid eating chocolate was invented and long before that the city was at the forefront of chocolate's development. Small independent chocolate cafes are beginning to appear across the country and supermarkets are stocking new high quality chocolate ranges."
Mr Trackman added: "Some of the money is in place and we are close to getting the investment we need.
"This is an exciting project and we are talking about a major visitor attraction. I have signed a lock-out agreement on the building subject to the funds becoming available. We are bringing something to the city which will be a major attraction."
The Chocolate Harbour will include a multimedia exhibition on the history of chocolate, a restaurant, a chocolate shop, and an in-house chocolaterie.
Mr Trackman said: "We are talking about the highest quality chocolate and the plan is to include dishes in the restaurant which use cocoa. We will also have an in-house chocolaterie to create deserts.
"There is an increasing demand for high-quality, Fairtrade organic chocolate rather than the sugary mass-market chocolate often sold in supermarkets, and Chocolate Harbour will tap in to that demand."
Mr Trackman describes himself as a social entrepreneur and is the driving force behind the Jazz Age garden parties which are held across the South West.
The social side of the Chocolate Harbour project will include the creation of the Chocolate Harbour Trust, a charity set up to help cocoa producers in Ghana.
As reported in the Evening Post, Destination Bristol has been working to try and improve the Harbourside and make it more family friendly and less bar orientated.
A new bistro called the Harbourside specialises in classical music, locally sourced food and fine wine has recently opened and the aim is to make the district more friendly.
Comments
by swerdnats
Sunday, July 31 2011, 5:11PM
“Did this ever open?”
by Stug, London
Monday, August 16 2010, 5:02PM
“This article gives me a cracking idea for a sequel, how about: Indecent Proposal 2 - The Chocolate Harbour. At £2.5 million it's got to be a tempting offer surely..?”
by Jack Bauer, Pihbonia
Monday, August 16 2010, 4:17PM
“My friend Stile bought a season pass here and said he loves it. He said to be sure to pay the extra coins to go up into the tower of Timo. Don't go after 6pm though, because you'll run into the janitor crew cleaning up the chocolate nuggets left from the tourists. The vacuum guy has tourettes, and just says "FUUU" the whole time. It's a real demotivator. If you're there after 6pm, Ask the Staff about the Hall of Fame. It's cool, and it has everything but Hall of Fame stuff. Just don't talk while you're in there or security will kick you out. Anyway, those are the only random thoughts I have for the front page.”
by Bristol Born, Overseas but Bristol born and bred
Thursday, August 05 2010, 7:48PM
“I appreciate the idea of the restaurant (who wouldn't want to be stuffed in the chocolate harbour?) but I think a pastry cum coffee shop would be hitting the mark. I'd really like to bring a group of friends for something hot and creamy uop the chocoalate harbour nd know we'd leave satisfied with sticky buns.”
by Mr. Phil, Overseas but Bristol born and bred
Thursday, August 05 2010, 7:44PM
“I appreciate there will be a restaurant and I'm sure many of us would enjoy getting stuffed in the chocolate harbour; but I'm hopeful for a pastry shop with good coffee. I would love to take my wife for something hot and creamy at the chocolate harbour and hopefully leave with both satisfied and her replete with sticky buns.”
by Alfred Noakes, Bristol
Thursday, August 05 2010, 12:58PM
“You write with the frustrating tone of a man who has been denied entry to the chocolate harbour.
Keep pushing harder and eventually they will let you in.”
by Harry, Winterstroke
Thursday, August 05 2010, 12:49PM
“Some of the comments here are down right offensive, disgusting and totally depraved. I don't see what is so funny about anal intercourse. These innuendo style jokes must stop. This kind of filth is what you would expect to see in the Daily Mail and not a quality local paper such as the Evening Post. When I was fighting in the Faulkland Islands getting one of my limbs blown off and having my best friends brains exploded all over my face I was not trying to liberate our Great Nation so that we could display such filth and smutt as written here. The internet is obviously a very dangerous place. The comments from the likes of Alfred Noakes are what you would expect to see on the back of a toilet door. Regarding Proffessor Käfer, what you and your wife get up to behind your front door we don't wish to know, just what kind of Proffessor are you? The Chocolate Harbour sounds like a great project and is exactly the kind of injection that part of Bristol needs right now. This kind of commentary just stops such successful projects from ever getting off the ground. Reading the comments here makes my blood boil so much I am having to reach for the beta-blockers. STOP THIS FILTH NOW YOU CRUSTY BOTCH OF NATURE!. One day a rain will come a wipe all the scum off the streets.”
by Alfred Noakes, Bristol
Thursday, August 05 2010, 12:48PM
“Will this new attraction be exclusive? I would only let members enter if it was my chocolate harbour”
by Prof. V. W. Käfer, Clifton Down
Thursday, August 05 2010, 9:19AM
“I dream of the day when my wife visits my own little chocolate harbour in her rubber dinghy. Does this mean that I am a homophobe?”
by gods right hand man, sadly still in Bristol, tunnel number 2 was found
Wednesday, August 04 2010, 8:48PM
“Who can take a sunrise,Sprinkle it in dew, Cover it in chocolate
and a miracle or two?The candyman can
oh and that business man.
good luck, its about time the multitude of chav watering holes on the waterfront were replaced with some proper tourist attractions. Perhaps the bars should relocate to the water area, or on the river bed....”