Identity of mystery new business opening on Fishergate revealed as window vinyls are removed

The mystery surrounding a new business coming to a prominent Preston city centre unit has finally been solved.

Last month, we revealed that 8 Fishergate, the former Past Times store, was set to get a new lease of life.

A new business is preparing to open in the unit but the team behind it are deliberately keeping its identity a secret until the official reveal.

Over the past few weeks, the shopfront has been covered with mystery hoarding asking questions such as: ‘Another fried chicken shop?’, ‘Another burger shop?’, ‘Another barbers?’

Members of the public were invited to scan a QR code and submit their guess to receive a founders invite to the opening night and enter a competition for a year long prize.

This weekend, the vinyls have been taken off the windows at last to reveal what lies inside and the answer is a second branch of popular Preston wellness cafe.

Liv, a health cafe and clinic currently located on Pole Street in Preston, only opened in August last year.

The brainchild of five childhood friends from Preston called Adnaan, Aadil, Muaawiya, Yaasim and Yusuf, Liv brings together both a healthy cafe, serving food and drinks, and a health clinic, offering vitamin injections, ar wax removal and a Japanese head spa.

Pictures obtained by the Post reveal that inside 8 Fishergate is now what looks like a cafe decorated with Liv’s recognisable logo.

In prime view is the bar area, decorated with signs saying ‘The Açaí Bar’, ‘Matcha Club’ and ‘Fresh Bakes & Fro-Yos’.

The Pole Street branch very much remains open so it looks like this is an exciting expansion for the Preston brand.

Although not keen to confirm or deny anything this weekend, when a spokesperson from the business spoke to the Post last month, their description of the people behind it sounded very much like Liv’s owners.

At the time, the spokesperson said: “As five friends who are all from Preston and studied locally, bringing something positive to the city centre is important to us.”

Similarly when we caught up with owners of Liv last year, trained pharmacist Adnaan said: “What we wanted to do is bring something back to Preston. Although I grew up in Manchester, I spent a lot of time in Preston because my mum’s family is from there, whereas all my other four friends, they've all lived in Preston their entire life. They've all been brought up around Frenchwood, which is what, five minutes from where we're located. So, you know, we wanted to give back to our local community because there was a gap in the market. There's nothing like us right now.”

Although the identity of the new business is sure to be confirmed very soon, their spokesperson did also explain the need for all this mysery when we spoke to them.

They added: “We wanted to make the opening more engaging than simply putting our name above the door and announcing that we were coming. People naturally become curious when they see a new shop being fitted out, so we decided to turn that curiosity into a competition and allow Preston to be part of the journey from the beginning.

“We have loved seeing all the different guesses so far, and the winner will be able to enjoy what we are bringing for an entire year.”

In its early days, the distinctive red brick and terracotta property, built in 1914, was used by the Preston Sailors and Soldiers Free Buffet Association as a shop to sell donated items to fund the free refreshment stand on the railway station, providing food and drink to servicemen passing through during the First World War.

It also had various stints as a restaurant in the latter half of the 20th century but in recent history, was best known as the home of Past Times before the nationwide group went into administration in 2012.

The property last housed an art gallery until 2018.