Northampton Italian restaurant now open after move from Grange Park to town centre

A Northampton-based Italian restaurant opened to the public last Wednesday (October 5) after making the move from Grange Park to Abington Street.

Alberto’s Italian is now situated in Wedgwood as they outgrew their old premises, and the team is hoping to bring new life to the town centre.

Owner Mehmet Yetkin, 44, first opened Alberto’s Italian ahead of the second lockdown in October 2020 and received “excellent support” from Grange Park and the surrounding communities – including Wootton, Collingtree and Hunsbury.

They even received bookings from as far afield as Rugby and Daventry, and the business now needs a bigger space to grow and expand.

Mehmet said: “In April we saw the big opportunity to relocate to the town centre and introduce lots of new ideas to bring to Abington Street.

“We want to help turn the town centre around and make this end of Abington Street as busy as it used to be when I was younger.”

The restaurant was not meant to open as early as last Wednesday (October 5), but there was a “big demand from their regular and local customers”.

The team has seen this demand since the beginning, particularly the November and December months when lockdown restrictions were eased and they found themselves fully booked.

Mehmet, who is also the owner of Wedgwood, did not initially intend on moving into the premises but after viewing other properties in the town centre, he knew it was the right decision to make.

One of the main reasons for the move was because they did not have permission from the Grange Park landlord to expand, even down to not being able to put seating outside to welcome in more customers.

“Since we opened in Wedgwood, we’ve had a flow of customers who have enjoyed the food and everyone’s happy,” said the business owner.

Now they have completed the move, Mehmet wants to focus on attracting more customers to try their new concept – a sit down, fast food Italian restaurant.

Mehmet admits they do not offer fine dining and instead, the restaurant offers a great choice for those “taking quick breaks or during lunchtime”.

“We want to introduce this properly at a reasonable price so it’s accessible for everyone,” he said.

There will be special deals available, including a plan to allow kids to eat for free on weekdays after 2pm if they are with paying adults – and the team hopes to entice parents on the school run with this offer.

Alberto’s is also excited to support the events hosted by Wedgwood and Born to Perform to bring together the disabled community, with a Halloween themed event happening at the end of this month.

Taking to Facebook on October 3 to break the news of the move, the restaurant said: “We would like to thank you all for your great support from day one when we opened our doors at Grange Park.

“We have really enjoyed the experience and meeting many great people.”

The restaurant is now open everyday from 11am.