Jamie Oliver to create over 100 jobs
Chef Jamie Oliver is planning to open an Italian restaurant in the heart of Norwich.
The move is being seen as a vote of confidence in the city, creating nearly 120 jobs.
Photo: Sarah Cocke
Norwich could be joining cities such as Brighton and Birmingham with the opening of a Jamie’s Italian. As reported earlier, under the plans, the new restaurant would be built in the Royal Arcade, converting the current Waterstone’s bookshop.
The move is seen as a vote for Norwich. In a council report it states: “These proposals will add significant value to the local economy and the Norwich Offer. Close to 120 jobs from entry level to level 4 will be created. The company has a good reputation for investing in staff development, providing good working conditions and opportunities, particularly for young people[...] The selection of Norwich as a location is a vote of confidence that will raise the City’s profile within the wider business community.”
Comments to “Jamie Oliver to create over 100 jobs”
but how many will be lost from Waterstones closing?
As someone currently employed at the Royal Arcade branch of Waterstone’s, we’re all expecting to be made jobless out of this. Most of us love what we do, and do it well, so seeing the city cooing over the prospect of some guy off the telly having minimal involvement in yet another restaurant is fairly disheartening. The argument that “it’s silly to have two Waterstone’s so close together” doesn’t hold much weight if one considers the genuinely different atmosphere both shops offer from one another. Still. He’s on the tv, we’re not, so all’s good, I suppose.
Sorry to hear you might be made redundant. I’ll make sure we mention the Waterstones situation in any further coverage.
Oh dear. This is probably good news for the city as a whole. The only problem is that the wrong branch of Waterstone’s is closing! Don’t forget that the Royal Arcade branch is the original Norwich branch, and many of the staff who were involved in moving the shop to the Arcade from London Street are still there – it certainly has a far better record in staff retention than Castle Street.
The difference in atmosphere and customer service between the two branches is immense: the Arcade has always offered thoughtful, knowledgeable, experienced career booksellers who are smart enough, for instance, to work out if a customer is likely to be interested in bargain of the week (like the parroted ‘do you want a cheap bar of chocolate?’ offer that is so annoying when you reach the tills in WHSmiths, for example).
The Castle Street branch, on the other hand, offers enthusiastic, very smiley, but generally less literate staff who will without fail ask you if you want the latest cut-price Katie Price autobiography no matter what you’re buying.
This may seem a small and rather petty point, but I do think this is symptomatic of something broader: the quieter, more thoughtful staff in the older branch are to lose their jobs, while the brasher ‘one size fits all’ branch will survive. I guess it comes down to attitude, really.
It’s all too late now, of course, but I for one would like to express my thanks to the staff of the Royal Arcade Waterstone’s for many years of thoughtful service over the decades. I’ll miss you.
As another bookseller from the Royal Arcade branch, I really wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to the Local Bibliophile for the lovely comment that he or she posted. It put a lot of smiles on the faces on the staff members faces here which is much appreciated during this sad time.
I’ve always thought of my colleagues as my extended family and the shop as my second home and I think that camaraderie between peers; that sense of genuine affection, translated into both a wonderful place to work for us and a special place to shop for our customers. Thanks again… and we’ll miss all of you too.
Is this a sign of the times for book shops? The impact of Amazon/Kindle must be being felt in the bricks & mortar bookshops.
I think Jamie Oliver coming to Norwich is great news, it will be a great location too. Hopefully, the Waterstone’s folk will be offered redeployment.
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“Norwich could be joining cities such as Brighton and Birmingham”
And Milton Keynes !