Tonino's Owner Reveals 'Exciting' Plan For Gourock Wine Bar

A budding interior designer is helping the owner of a popular pizzeria transform an empty establishment on Gourock's Kempock Street into a stylish new wine bar.

Tony Bonatti, who owns Tonino's on Greenock’s Grey Place, was given planning approval for to revamp the former Domus Interiors shop in April.

He has now enlisted the help of former Domus employee and Glasgow School of Art Student Lucia Coggins to draw up plans for the new premises.

The venue, which will be called ‘Vino by Tonino’, will have capacity for 40 people and Tony hopes it can launch around Christmas time.

He said: “I think since Covid the evening trade of Kempock Street isn’t what it was, there’s probably other factors like cost of living, but I feel like there’s definitely a bit of a gap in the market.

“I’ve got a love of Italian wines and wine in general and also what we’ve been doing down the road in Greenock.

“I want to grow Tonino’s, it’s now eight years old and it’s time to expand, but I want to diversify.

“That’s partly because I feel like what we have in Grey Place is quite a magic thing, I don’t think I could just roll that out and repeat it everywhere.

“So, I want to do something a bit different, but obviously with a bit of Tonino’s inspiration.

“We’ll be serving food here which will have been made on Tonino’s premises, but it’ll be cold food - nibbles, antipasti or meats or cheeses.

“It’s a growth of the business without being a replica.”

The local businessman, who has lived in Gourock since 2012, told the Tele he was excited to be moving into the town’s bustling high street.

He added: “Kempock Street is such a hub, every morning we deliver focaccia to Wildfire deli and we end up chatting to everyone.

“There’s such a community spirit, everyone knows everyone and it’s a friendly place.

“I look forward to being a part of that.”

For third year student Lucia, the venture presents an exciting opportunity to gain valuable experience leading a big redesign project.

The 20-year-old said: “I’ve really enjoyed this, it’s been a good project to have as well as doing my uni work and it’s great to be back in this shop.

“It’ll be good to see this shop find another use and carry on and I’m looking forward to seeing clients who I used to work with coming back to use it in a different way.

“I’m really grateful to get this opportunity.

“I’ve already done a couple of renders but it’s an ongoing process, we’ll adapt and change as we develop things.

“But we’ve come up with two different sides for it, there’ll be a side that’s formal and another that’s informal.

“The idea is that people can come along and experience the same place in different ways.”

The Wemyss Bay resident, who will start her fourth and final university year after summer, said working at Domus has given her the skills to oversee its revamp.

She added: ”I had applied for uni and I came into Domus looking for work experience, but they offered me a job.

“I was there until it closed down throughout my time at uni. I absolutely loved it and it’s given me the inspiration and confidence to do other jobs like designing the wine bar.

“I used to rearrange my room a lot when I was younger and I really enjoyed planning colours for my mum’s living room.

“She suggested that I get into interior design and I’ve always loved art and fashion and stuff like that so I applied for it in uni and I just love it.

“Through Domus I’ve done quite a lot of projects, mostly houses, but I’ve been involved in a couple of other projects.

“This is my first big one myself so that’s quite exciting.”

Rebecchi Architectural was delighted to support the new endeavour by submitting the successful change of use application.

This article and image appeared in The Greenock Telegraph.