Visitors to the new Kellas bar and restaurant in Port St Mary have referred to visiting the venue as ‘like being in London’.

This is according to the founder of Kellas Becki Gelling, who led the project with her auntie Amanda Dixon and has ran the venue since its opening at the start of May.

Based at the former Manxonia House, the venue includes a café by day and a cocktail bar by night, as well as restaurants over two floors, a patio garden area and a farm shop.

The 5,800 square foot venue, which was in development since late 2020, serves main meals, hot drinks, pastries and cocktails, as well as selling locally sourced produce.

Talking about how the first few months have gone since its opening, Becki said: ‘We’ve been blown away by the support for Kellas, both from customers based in the south who support us throughout the week and from those who travel from Douglas, Ramsey and Peel at the weekends.

‘From the very first day we opened our doors, the demand for our coffee, cakes, morning brunch and lunch service has been incredible - we really couldn’t have asked for anything more.

‘We’ve received such lovely feedback and we especially love hearing people’s reactions following their first visit. Lovely comments have included people saying “you don’t feel like you’re on the Isle of Man” and “this could be in London”, which is always nice to hear.’

Kellas is now home to a 20-seater tearoom, a 34-seater restaurant, a 30-seater garden room overlooking the bay, a 16-seater mezzanine lounge area, and a 24-seater private dining room called ‘The Manxonia Suite’.

When asked which area of the venue has been the most popular, Becki said: ‘When the sun shines, our garden with its few over Chapel Bay is a firm favourite. We regularly welcome people enjoying early morning coffee through to evening cocktails.

‘Our customers also seem to love the Manxonia Suite, our private dining area. It’s perfect for intimate baby showers, family get-togethers, afternoon teas and celebration brunches.

‘The mezzanine lounge has also proved popular for evening cocktails and sharing platters.’

Despite the venue’s success, Kellas has sometimes struggled to provide lunches to its customers because of a lack of kitchen staff.

Becki stated that the venue has had to take a staggered approach to opening its wide variety of services, rather than ‘doing it all at once’.

She added: ‘We’ve been very grateful for the support and understanding of our customers in these early days as we get up to speed with bringing Kellas to life.

‘We decided to take a slow-and-steady approach to opening and expanding into all the areas and services we plan to offer, rather than trying to do it all from day one.

‘This has really allowed us to focus on building an incredible team, both front and back of house, and to get things as we’d like them for our guests.’