Signs go up for Darlington’s newest Italian restaurant Mafea
Mafea is set to open on Horsemarket in the former Pizza Hut later this year, serving up pizza, pasta, steaks, lasagnes and other delicacies inspired by La Dolce Vita.ย
It will mark the latest Darlington venture from Viacheslav Pedchenko, who already runs the popular Wynd Cafรฉ & Bistro on Post House Wynd.ย
This week, new signs have gone up on the front of the unit, advertising some of the food on offer at the former chain restaurant.ย
Viacheslav, who is originally from Ukraine but now lives in Chilton, has been carrying out renovation works on the Grade-II listed building over the last few months.ย
This has included reupholstering the seating and building a new pizza oven, with a licensing application lodged earlier this year for an alcohol licence.ย
If granted by Darlington Council, it will see the restaurant be able to sell alcohol between 10am and 1am everyday and late night refreshments from 11pm to 1am, also daily.
There is also hope for some outdoor seating.
Mafea was initially earmarked to open the doors at the end of March but this never came to fruition – with a new launch date yet to be confirmed.
The space has been closed since Pizza Hut pulled out of the town in December 2021, when it became another casualty of the Covid pandemic.ย
The closure meant that the nearest Pizza Hut to Darlington residents is now at Teesside Park, followed by locations in Middlesbrough and Durham.
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At the time, the chain said it had been “saddened” by the closure, but said in a statement that it was “beyond our control.”
At the time it suggested the closure was due to the impact of the Covid pandemic and confirmed that it had redeployed a number of staff to neighbouring sites.
Before Mafea lodged plans, the site looked set to become a Veeno wine bar, after an application was made to the council. However, this never came to be.ย