Inside the new deli making waves in Seaham with its focaccia sandwiches, scotch eggs and more

By the Waves Deli has had a soft launch as the new business finds it feet, but they’ve already had big queues and early sell outs of their seemingly very popular scotch eggs.

The deli has been brought to the town by business partners Andy Smith and Gavin Hardy who are already well-known faces with their other ventures, with Andy co-owning Slice and the Coalface pub, jewellery-maker Gavin owning Seaham Waves Studio and the pair co-owning Londonderry’s bar and accommodation together.

Their latest partnership has seen them spend the last six weeks creating By The Waves deli in Gavin’s existing Seaham Waves shop in Seaham Harbour.

It’s one of the only shops dedicated to sea glass in the world and fans of the jewellery and gift shop needn’t worry as it still sells its crafts as usual.

In the meantime, Gavin’s former workshop space at the back of the unit has been used to create the deli, which specialises in a range of focaccia sandwiches, sausage rolls, scotch eggs, cakes, coffees and a selection of artisan deli goods.

Speaking about how this new concept came about, Andy said: “I’d been making Detroit-style pizza at Londonderry’s with a focaccia base - and people just loved the base.

“We used it as bread on our sharing boards and it became the most popular thing on the board, so we thought about how we could turn that into a sandwich offering.

“There’s already a good sandwich offering in Seaham, but we wanted to add to that, something easy people can grab on the go.”

Gavin, whose sea glass jewellery sells around the world, said: “I’d actually had the idea of opening a deli here before Covid and had bought the items for it, but they just ended up in storage.

“It’s a big space here and I felt there was more that could be done with it.”

The pair have done the fit out themselves, repurposing items from their existing businesses to create the new dog-friendly space, which has space for sit in, as well seating in the courtyard outside.

Prices start from £5.50 for a sandwich, with a range of fillings such as Reuben, BLT and caprese, or you can pick up a meal deal of any sandwich, drink and crisps for £7.

Speaking about the response, Andy said: “It’s actually gone better than we thought. We’ve actually had to turn people away because they’ve turned up before opening and the scotch eggs have been flying out.”

You can find By the Waves Deli in the courtyard behind Samrat and Londonderry’s.

Elsewhere in Seaham, on nearby North Terrace, a trio of new businesses are on the way.

The Train Line, already a big hit at Seaburn Metro Station, is set to open its cake and desserts offering soon, with the fit out of the unit nearing the final stages.

Also set to open soon is Namaste Indian restaurant in the former Tide restaurant, with Italian restaurant Dolce Vita set to open next door in the former Armoury bar.

*By the Waves Deli is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 3pm. Dog-friendly.