WEARSIDE MATTERS: Guide to shine a light on food and drink scene

Eat Drink Sunderland, which showcases some of the best bars, cafés and restaurants that the city has to offer, will soon be on businesses’ coffee tables and in hotel rooms across Sunderland.

A sister-publication of Vibe Magazine, Eat Drink Sunderland is a 36-page magazine, and there are also 20,000 copies of an A6 foldout guide being distributed throughout the city that will help guide hungry visitors to the perfect place to fill up on good food.

For those who do not get their hands on a printed copy, an online version of the foldout guide is available at www.sunderlandvibe.co.uk with a downloadable city centre map to guide them through the places they may want to sample.

Gary Hutchinson, the chairman of Sunderland Business Partnership, said that the guide was a fantastic way of capturing the area’s growing collection of eateries.

He said: “Sunderland is packed with places to grab a bite to eat, have a great meal or enjoy a drink, and with more and more great places coming on board, we wanted to draw attention to the varied, and delicious options on offer.

“The foldout version of the guide in particular is something people can slip in their pocket or bag and use to direct them around the streets of Sunderland, picking out the food of their choice and finding a place to go, especially as the city has so many hidden gems.

“It’s particularly good for visitors – and of course, with the city’s growing events programme and with more and more great hotels in the city to service people who are coming to the city for a day or even weekend trips, these will become something that will add real value to the city.”

Partners including Sunderland AFC, Sunderland Business Improvement District (BID), Sunderland City Council, Sunderland College, the Bridges Shopping Centre and the University of Sunderland have teamed up to make the guide possible, and will be sharing it to shine a light on all that the city has to offer.

The Sunderland Echo has also supported with the project with the print of the magazine version of the guide.

Gary added: “Partnership working is allowing us to make more of the great assets we have in Sunderland, and through producing guides like this, we can start to show off what we have to offer, and bring more people into our great city.”

For more about the food and drink scene in Sunderland, visit www.sunderlandvibe.co.uk

THE DRINKS ARE ON CBL

A Sunderland drinks and bottling company is refusing to keep a lid on its success as it serves up support for some of the city’s biggest events.

CBL Drinks Ltd, a Southwick-based business that has produced more than 116 million bottles in the last 24 months, supplied more than 4,500 bottles of spring water for Sunderland International Airshow and is also supplying the August 19 Hacienda Classical Concert at Herrington Country Park.

The drinks were served up to military ground staff at the airshow as well as event and security staff at two headline city events.

The company makes, fills and bottles a wide range of natural spring water, zero sugar flavoured spring water and soft drinks for its customers, which include national supermarket chains and cash and carry operators.

It also produces over 4,000 pallets of a premium cordial which are shipped out to Saudi Arabia each year in glass bottles.

CBL Drinks’ operations director Mark Bell said that he was delighted that the company was supporting two key dates in Sunderland’s events programme.

Mark said: “As a business, we have made a significant commitment to Sunderland, with expansion of our base in Southwick and the addition of a storage facility in the city too.

“We’re therefore very proud to support Sunderland International Airshow and Hacienda Classical, both of which are events that really help to put Sunderland on the map.

“The on-the-ground team does a tremendous job in delivering events of such significance, and to such a high standard, so we’re glad to be supporting in keeping them well hydrated and able to keep up their top-class work.”

CBL Drinks is one of a small number of UK bottling companies with its own natural on site spring, the Hadrian Well. Water from the spring is used in its zero sugar range of drinks that include Perfectly Clear, Northumbria Spring, Fruit Squeeze and 1870 Mixers.

Sunderland International Airshow director Sue Stanhope said: “We have some fantastic natural assets in the city, and these are used to maximum effect during airshow weekend, when we show off our stunning coastline.

“We also have some tremendous businesses and to be able to involve them in the day in this way, having them support in-kind with drinks for our team – who are absolutely invaluable across the three-day airshow – is fantastic.”

CBL Drinks has built a close working relationship with airshow organizer Sunderland City Council, having been supported with their expansion.

For more information about CBL Drinks, visit www.cbldrinks.co.uk