The staff at Sgt Peppers restaurant in Lowestoft are not unfamiliar with hard days and nights considering the restaurant has been around for more than 30 years. This year, the restaurant will be marking 35 years since it was first opened in 1982 and the managing director, Mike Power, is quite surprised that they’ve been able to reach the landmark in light of the business climate at the moment. He is quite surprised by the number of people who keep turning up to continue supporting the each passing year and also by the number of visitors that come from as far off as Beccles and Great Yarmouth.
Before it was a restaurant, the location was occupied by a pinewood furniture shop. On August 19, 1982, Mr Power together with his former partner, Marie Power, opened the restaurant beginning a journey that continues up to this day. Before heading to Lowestoft to set up the restaurant, Mr Power had previously been working in other restaurants and hotels around the country so the industry was not new to him. The restaurant was named after the iconic Beatles Album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which coincidentally, will also be celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The restaurant pays homage to the time around which the Beatles released their album and it’s known for its charm and character which are set by the various musical instruments that hang from the ceiling along with the images of faces that were well known during the swinging sixties that are all over the walls of the restaurant.
According to Mr Power, he had thought of going back to the hotel industry at some point but the concept of the restaurant really stuck to him. As he explains, Hey Jude was the first record from the Beatles that he’d heard while in school and ever since then, he was hooked on the band. He added that while growing up, he wished that he’d grown up in the 60’s was now reinventing the times for himself. He also thanked the wonderful staff and loyal customers that had helped the restaurant since the beginning. He says that he now sees people who had come to the restaurant in the 80’s and 90’s with their parents coming back with their own children so they too can have a taste of the 60’s and he believes that the restaurant will only get better with time.