New Turkish-themed restaurant ready to open at historic site in Mansfield

The new Horizon coffee bar and restaurant, which sits underneath the historic viaduct on Church Street, Mansfield.

For a new, bespoke coffee bar and restaurant, called The Horizon, is ready to open on Church Street, bringing to life a landmark site that has been derelict for about five years.

Two families who hail from Turkey are behind the business, which will sit underneath Mansfield’s historic town-centre viaduct at a Grade Two listed site that dates back to the 19th century.

"We have been living in Mansfield for two years now, and we wanted to bring something different to the town,” said Sevcan Keskin, whose husband, Guven Soylu, is one of the directors of the business, along with Cilem Akar.

A close-up view of the new Turkish-themed coffee bar and restaurant.

"We will serve Turkish cuisine, mixed with English food, as well as coffee.

"On the menu will be Turkish breakfast, daily soups, steaks, grilled fish, profiteroles, eclairs, brownies, alcohol drinks and more.

"We will specialise in waffles and also kumpir, which is a Turkish street food never seen in Mansfield before.

"A few details still need to be worked on, but when lockdown is finished, we will be ready to open.”

The building was most recently home to the Divine Furnishings store. But now it has been transformed, with the help of Nottingham-based architects, Peter Philip Developments, who have designed The Horizon.

Adam Jones, managing director of Peter Philip, said: “The clients are Turkish and approached me about six months ago wanting some commercial work.

"They are keen to start a cafe restaurant, which is also a bar, although it will serve only a limited amount of alcohol.

"The main principle is to sell Turkish cuisine, as well as English food, and they will be doing various, different foods.

"I haven’t seen the menu yet, but the interior of the cafe is a really nice fit, with design work from Turkey. All the design, fitting and kitchen are bespoke.

"There is a big copper grill in the kitchen that says ‘The Horizon’ on it. They have done really well.

"The bar will open as soon as possible, whenever the restrictions allow. They have still got some things to sign off, but they will open as soon as they can.”