A fish and chip shop and an ice cream parlour are essentials for the esplanade of any seaside town. This being deliciously refined Deal on the east coast of Kent, a well defined Japanese restaurant in a Grade II Listed early Georgian townhouse is also required. The Blue Pelican has just opened on the aptly named Beach Street in what was formerly The Black Douglas, a restaurant run by Dalziel Douglas. Her sister Lizzie is the owner of The Black Pig, a butcher’s just behind the esplanade on St George’s Passage. They are the daughters of Lord Gawain Douglas who’s the son of the 11th Marquess of Queensberry. Oscar Wilde’s lover Bosie Douglas was a relative.
The red door and pale peach walls of the façade have been painted pale green and white respectively. A tripartite shopfront remains black. This façade reappears inside in a mural dominating a wall of the restaurant. Painted by Deal born Lisbon residing artist Tom Maryniak, his flatulent Victorians wallpaper caused merriment for customers visiting the basement loo in Dalziel’s restaurant. The owners Chris Hicks and his wife Alex Bagner, who own The Rose Hotel on High Street, wanted to pay respect to The Black Douglas. They’ve retained the same ground floor layout: the dining room occupies the sea facing front of the building with an open plan kitchen to the rear. A striking departure is the red neon sign “Fire it up” outside the cavernous now red painted loo. Alex was previously Design Editor at Wallpaper* magazine.
