Cafe and steak restaurant to open at former Franks nightclub

Alex Muir and family will open Rendezvous in April

By Jodie Nesling

Former Margate nightclub Franks is being transformed into a breakfast cafe and steak restaurant.

Rendezvous will be a family-run business headed up 27-year-old Alex Muir his father Alex senior and his father’s partner, Carol Smith.

East Kent’s burgeoning food scene has seen a host of acclaimed restaurants open across the isle but this could be Thanet’s first cafe-to-restaurant venture opening from 7am to 11pm.

“Once customers come for breakfast and return in the evening for dinner they will feel as though they are in a different place due to a change of layout, cutlery and mood lighting for a relaxed atmosphere. We will also occasionally have live music. “We’ve lived here our whole lives and it’s great to see the town get back to how it used to be,” said Alex.
He added: “During the day there will be breakfast and lunch with traditional fry ups and eggs benedict; then at night a dinner menu of 30 day cured steak, and fish,”

There will also be a full vegetarian and vegan menu, quality cocktails and beers.

The family, who are born and bred Thanetians, even took a trip to Krombacher in Germany to select their bespoke Rendezvous beer.

Frank’s was a popular haunt for clubbers back in the 90s but closed in 2009  where it remained vacant before being snapped up two years ago and planning permission granted. The top floor features shared studio, Flying Colours.

Previously owned by Thanet pub chain, Thorley Taverns the Ethelbert Crescent venue was put on the rental market for £50,000 a year in July 2016.

It was once a popular spot with two for one offers, ladies nights and under 18’s events.
It is part of the Cliftonville Leisure Complex, which also contains Bugsys Bowling, Cains Amusements, Olympia Cafe, and 12 existing 2-bedroom flats known as Cliftonville Court. The rest of the site is active, with the existing commercial units well-used, and the flats inhabited.

The restaurant will open in April.

7 Comments

  1. I am a born and bred Thanetonian NOT Thanetian!!

    Looking forward to trying out the new restaurant – spent many evenings there when it was the Bowlers Arms and Starlight club back in the 70s.

  2. I think if one is truly born and bred one identifies as a Margateonian, Ramsgateonian, or even the other place!

    The idea of an island wide identity would be an anathema to most of us of a ‘certain age’.

    Good to see a revival of the Renezvous name – albeit in a new location. Good luck to this new venture.

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