A DUO with a love for cooking are relishing the chance to offer a modern take on British culinary classics in the town’s new market.

Andrew Hutchinson and Chris Morgan opened Jakblak at the site on Monday.

And it has proved to be a very positive start for the pair, who are co-owners of the business.

“It has been great, we’ve had a good time and we’ve had really good feedback,” said Andrew.

“We have had a lot of movement on our Twitter and Instagram pages.

“We have worked together before. We worked for an event caterer in Runcorn and it looks like he’s going to mothball, so we took advantage of the situation.

“We were looking to move into doing some sort of market trading or some sort of street food before we got into here – we enjoy it, we love what we do.

“We are doing the likes of braised beef with a bubble and squeak and things like that but we are also doing seabass, so it’s a fishfinger butty but not a fishfinger butty as you would see a fishfinger butty.

“It’s just a modern take on those things but we will swing around lots of different countries so we will be Ireland, Scotland, we can be France, we can be Spain and some little bits of American in there as well.

“We just like the flexibility of being able to take seasonal produce and then do what we want with it.”

And the pair are not letting concerns over the pandemic get in the way of their vision.

Andrew said: “It’s just one of those things, you are either positive or negative about it and there’s nothing you can do about it, you just have to move on.”

He was also full of praise for the council’s efforts with the new market – which features a spacious food court, mezzanine floor, escalators and an outdoor terrace.

“I think it’s brilliant,” he added.

“The minute we came in we saw the seating area and it’s Covid friendly without looking Covid friendly, which is a real plus point for us because people don’t come in and feel awkward, they come in and go ‘we’re in a safe environment and it looks good’.”