CONSTRUCTION workers have revealed what the new £5m Ivy Oxford Brasserie will look like when it opens this winter.
In January, Beard started to transform the neo-Gothic former NatWest Bank building at 120-122 High Street into the upmarket restaurant and apartments.
Now the plastic covers have come off the building work and passers-by can see what the new restaurant is going to look like.
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The Grade II-listed structure was originally built in the 1860s as two separate properties, housing J Russell & Co’s piano shop and the London and County Bank.
Green window frames at the front of the building are giving it a radical new look.
One passer-by said: “I think it looks very different and I’m not sure I am entirely happy about it - I didn’t know the actual front of the building was going to be altered in this way.”
The work is due for completion in November and is being carried out on behalf of Lincoln College, which acquired the building from the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2013.
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The website said: “The Ivy Oxford Brasserie is opening winter 2019.
“The brasserie features an all-encompassing menu serving an eclectic mix of modern British comfort food and international dishes from dawn until dusk, seven days a week."
Beard staff have been working on the ground-floor restaurant conversion where many of the building’s original decorative features are being reinstated.
Beard project manager Jonathan Brock said earlier: “We are currently reinstating J Russell & Co’s old piano shop front which had disappeared from the building.
“Construction is also progressing well on the conversion of the upper floors into high-quality apartments and the creation of a residential entrance from Alfred Street.
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“The next important phase of the project will be completing the structural alterations and roofing repairs.”
Lincoln College Bursar Alex Spain added: “We are pleased to be working with Beard in the renovation of this historic building.”
Beard is an award-winning construction company which operates across the South East, with offices in Oxford, Swindon, Bristol and Guildford.
For decades The Ivy in Covent Garden has been the place for stars of the showbusiness world to be seen and now there are a number of different branches in cities across the country, including Birmingham, Bath, Cambridge and York.
New restaurants are also being planned in Windsor and Cardiff.
Staff are still being recruited for The Ivy Oxford Brasserie.
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On the other side of the High Street, Lincoln College has been working on a separate renovation project.
The Mitre pub closed for nine months in June as part of a two-year refurbishment project which started in January.
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Rooms for undergraduates above the former coaching inn are badly in need of an upgrade.
The pub is set to be refurbished as part of the ongoing revamp.
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