Three Norfolk businessmen have opened a 'high-end' London bar at a former office building in Norwich city centre.

The city's newest independent bar and restaurant, 11 Bar and Kitchen in Upper King Street, opened last night.

It's the brainchild of businessmen Jonathon Powley, Paul Alcock and Steven King, who is one of the directors of city-based Emkay Plastics.

Mr Powley, whose company Norwich Building & Carpentry carried out the work at the venue, said: 'We bought the building in October, went through the planning process, and started work on April 1.

'It's been a five-month building project costing about �800,000. We will employ about 30 to 35 staff.

'The idea was to bring a 'high-end' London bar to Norwich.'

Permission to turn the former offices into a bar was granted by Norwich City Council in May.

Mr Alcock, who is executive vice president with Norwich-based Acteon, had submitted the scheme to transform the three-storey Grade II listed building, which dates from the early 19th century and was on the buildings at risk register, into a drinking establishment, complete with kitchens.

The name of the bar may sound significant but Mr Powley said they could not think of a name, so just took it from the address – 9/11 Upper King Street.

The bar was open to friends on Wednesday night when about 340 people attended, and the grand opening will be next week.

The Evening News has been urging customers to support local pubs, bars and breweries in our Love your Local campaign.

To see more stories from the campaign visit www.eveningnews24.co.uk/loveyourlocal.

Have you got a story about a new bar/restaurant opening in Norwich? Call reporter David Bale on 01603 772427 or email david.bale2@archant.co.uk.