Peterborough vegan restaurant won’t be returning to theatre site

The venture that made a name for itself as a pop-up in the city and beyond with its quirky and tasty take on vegan street food traded at the theatre from March to May, on a trial basis with theatre operator Vivacity.

Such was the response to the opening that it stormed to the number 1 slot on the online review site TripAdvisor and talks about extending the contract took place, with Gareth Ellison, who launched Resist! with Lynn Jobson hopeful of being back in action soon.

However, he took to social media on Tuesday with a message to its supporters.

“So we’ve been in talks with Vivacity for the last couple of months now, with everything on hold, unable to say anything,” he said. “We’ve felt really positive about the whole situation and through it all thought we’d be announcing we’ll be back at The Key Theatre with our opening night featuring an incredible performance from Billy Pettinger and friends.

“ Sadly today’s news is that Resist! will not be returning to the Key Theatre at all. Obviously we’re all feeling very deflated right now.”

It is not the end of Resist! of course and Gareth is on the lookout for a new venue .

And for those keen to get a taste of what they have been missing in recent weeks, he will be cooking up his famous kebabs and more outside in the Stamford sunshine at Mama Liz’s for Skate-aid 6 - The Scary Clown Presents Punk All Dayer on Saturday.

Today, Vivacity chief executive Peter Appleton said a new operator for the Riverside restaurant - home to numerous ventures in the past decade -was on the horizon.

“We are in a learning phase at the moment within Vivacity in order to grow our organisation,” he said.

“As Gareth said we unfortunately couldn’t reach a mutual agreement for the future term for Resist at the Key. However, we remain in contact as part of our test and learn phase of activity.

“Excitedly we will be introducing Chalkboard Bistro at the Key Theatre in the coming months for a period of trial.”